WOLFENBUTTEL, Germany, Jan. 31, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- BIOBASE today announced a new cooperative venture with the Institute of Medical Genetics, Cardiff University. This cooperative agreement covers the exclusive worldwide marketing of the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) to both academic and commercial users. The initial 5-year contract will guarantee the continuity of this internationally acclaimed database, co-founded by Profs. David N. Cooper and Michael Krawczak in 1996.
BIOBASE is currently the leading commercial provider of biological knowledge. Their product portfolio spans gene regulation (TRANSFAC(r)) to fully annotated genomes (PROTEOME(tm)) via signal transmission (TRANSPATH(r)). The link-up with HGMD(r) will extend this portfolio to encompass mutations of human genes and their relationship with clinical phenotypes. HGMD(r) is unique in that it is the only comprehensive database of inherited mutations underlying or associated with human genetic disease. HGMD(r) currently includes information on the nature, location and sequence context of more than 58000 lesions in more than 2200 human genes and provides data on gene names and symbols, chromosomal locations and original literature references. Integration with phenotypic, structural and mapping information has been made possible by the provision of links to a variety of web-based resources.
"With HGMD(r), we have made our portfolio even more interesting to medical researchers by combining our data on biological processes with information on genetic disease," said Prof. Dr. Edgar Wingender, President and CSO of BIOBASE. "HGMD(r) will be tightly integrated within our current portfolio and will therefore provide tremendous added value to the scientific community. We are very proud of our new partnership with such an internationally renowned academic team."
David N. Cooper, PhD, Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at Cardiff University and one of the originators of HGMD(r), stated, "We are delighted to team up with BIOBASE, a young, ambitious and very dynamic bioinformatics company that is seeking to provide the human genetics community with essential data in an up-to date, integrated and user-friendly format."
More about HGMD
HGMD(r) (www.hgmd.org) is a trademark of Cardiff University and represents the only comprehensive collection of data available on germ-line mutations in nuclear genes underlying or associated with human inherited disease. The database can be used to search for newly identified gene lesions to determine whether or not they are novel. It can also be searched on a gene-wise basis to obtain an overview of the known mutational spectrum for a given gene. Additionally, it can be searched for other examples of a specific type of mutation in a specific location in order to garner evidence for the pathological authenticity of a given lesion.
About BIOBASE
BIOBASE (www.biobase-international.com), based in Wolfenbuttel (Germany) and Beverly, MA (USA), is the leading content provider of biological databases. The BIOBASE Knowledge Library includes many industry standards such as TRANSFAC(r), TRANSPATH(r), YPDTM, HumanPSD(tm) and others. In addition, BIOBASE collates a growing portfolio of third-party databases such as BRENDA(r) and NetPro(tm) both from commercial vendors and universities. More than 600 customers currently subscribe to BIOBASE's database portfolio.