OMAHA, Neb., Nov. 20 — Transgenomic (OTC Bulletin Board: TBIO) today announced that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the development of its proposed SURVEYOR Endonuclease Adaptor-ligated Libraries (SEAL) technology. A cost-effective and high throughput enabling technology for whole genome analysis, SEAL will identify DNA variations between a reference genome and a test genome with the potential to reduce the cost of whole genome analysis of such variations to under $10,000.

The award is for $100,000 for a duration of six months. Dr. Eric Kaldjian, Chief Scientific Officer of Transgenomic, stated, “We are very excited to be able to develop this innovative technology with the NSF’s support, which will allow us to direct significant resources toward SEAL to meet key research milestones more rapidly.”

SEAL was invented by Dr. Gary Gerard and colleagues in Transgenomic’s Gaithersburg Laboratories, evolving from the Company’s SURVEYOR Nuclease technology, which is highly sensitive for detecting genetic variations. By focusing analysis solely on regions of DNA variation, SEAL eliminates the sequencing of vast amounts of non-variant DNA, but is not limited to assessment of known common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). It thus bridges the current technology gap between haplotyping of known SNPs and deep high-throughput DNA sequencing.

Craig Tuttle, Chief Executive Officer and President of Transgenomic, commented, “This SBIR award by the NSF provides independent, peer-reviewed validation of the SEAL technology and its potential to meet unmet market needs. This supports our belief that SEAL will have a significant impact on whole genome analysis for pharmacogenomic studies in personalized medicine and bacterial drug resistance research.”