Aurora Biosciences, Becton Dickinson to Collaborate on Gene Identification

Aurora Biosciences Corporation (San Diego) has entered into an agreement with Becton Dickinson and Company (Franklin Lakes, NJ), to utilize Aurora's GenomeScreen technology for the identification of genes useful as drug screening targets. Aurora will receive research funding in support of the collaborative effort, and the parties will evaluate opportunities for future commercialization.

With Aurora's GenomeScreen technology, individual genes whose expression is induced or repressed in response to a given stimulus are identified by means of Aurora's beta-lactamase fluorescent reporter gene randomly integrated across the genome. Clonal cell lines, in which such responsive genes have been "tagged" or "captured" by the reporter gene construct, can be rapidly selected by fluorescence activated cell sorting. The tagged genes can then be identified and sequenced, and the cell clones can be grown and used directly in high throughput screening to identify and profile compounds that modulate the expression of these genes. Some aspects of this technology were described in the cover article of the December 1998 issue of Nature Biotechnology. Aurora has pending patent applications covering its GenomeScreen technology.

Becton Dickinson and Company manufactures and sells medical supplies and devices and diagnostic systems.

Aurora designs and develops proprietary drug discovery systems, services, and technologies.

For more information: Timothy J. Rink, President and CEO, Aurora Biosciences Corporation, 11010 Torreyana Rd., San Diego, CA 92121. Tel: 619-452-5000. Fax: 619-452-5723. Email: info@aurorabio.com.