PARIS - Genset SA signed a multiyear subscription agreement with Celera Genomics, of Rockville, Md., giving it access to Celera's databases. The Paris-based genomics company will use Celera's integrated database products, bioinformatics systems and other gene discovery tools for its genomics research.

Genset will access Celera's products through the web-based Celera Discovery System, which allows users to take advantage of the company's computational tools and supercomputing power as well as to tap its genomics and biological data. This was a "valuable resource for the scientific community," said J. Craig Venter, the president and chief scientific officer of Celera, a subsidiary of Applera Corp., since the company not only generated a large volume of data from various sources but also developed the tools and software needed to mine the data.

For his part, Genset's president and CEO, Andri Pernet, pointed out that the "quantity and quality of the data" in Celera's databases would enable it to accelerate and reduce the costs of its genomics research. This would allow Genset to focus its "time and resources on adding functional and medical information to genomics data."

- James Etheridge