Overview

Initially focused on dendritic cell-based drug discovery, Cellular Genomics has assembled a set of integrated technologies to couple the identification and validation of novel drug targets to proprietary tools for drug development, including high-throughput and high-content drug screens. The company’s chemical-genetic approach for validating enzyme drug targets and discovering enzyme inhibitors applies to a range of enzymes with applications to autoimmune and inflammatory disorders and cancer. Its technologies include:

Analogue Sensitive Kinase Alleles, a means for functional validation of enzymes and developing enzyme inhibitors. The program involves mapping pathways and directly identifying substrates as well as validating targets.

Membrane 1-Hybrid Program identifies membrane protein drug targets using a proprietary protein interaction technology, and cell-based high-throughput screens for drugs that modulate membrane protein function.

A proprietary dendritic cell culture/proteomics platform for the discovery of novel immunomodulatory therapeutics. Dendritic cell-specific drug targets can be validated and screened using the Membrane 1-hybrid and ASEA platforms. In addition, dendritic cell membrane proteins may be identified and validated using monoclonal antibodies.

The company raised $22 million in a private placement in March 2001 for the development and commercialization of its genomics platform.

Partners

Cellular Genomics has partnerships with Viaken Systems Inc. and InforMax Inc. The partnership calls on Viaken to host, manage and support the implementation and maintenance of InforMax's GenoMax enterprise software and related systems.