The LigoCyte Proteo-Flow™ System

The area of genomics has received vast amounts of attention by both the scientific and investment communities. What most people fail to acknowledge is the fact that, apart from controversial gene therapies, genomics is unlikely to generate a large quantity of therapeutic drug candidates. The 100,000 human genes regulate the expression of at least 250 million proteins which are responsible for the cell-to-cell signaling that governs the daily operations of the body. Diseases are usually tied to the fact that communication errors are transmitted by errant proteins, cell mechanisms are inappropriately turned on or off, or pathogens are able to hide from the immune system by disguising their own messages as naturally occurring human proteins. The current arsenal of therapeutic drugs doesn't act on the human genome, it blocks or modifies select proteins (the "proteome") that are expressed by the genome.

LigoCyte's Proteo-Flow technology provides important information for the study of Functional Proteomics, the critical step which relates protein expression to drug development.

The Proteo-Flow system rapidly and efficiently allows the analysis of biological events and the binding that occurs between proteins and their receptors (as well as carbohydrates and peptides). Furthermore, binding characteristics can be compared between different disease models, enabling the discovery of broad platform technologies with applications over a wide variety of diseases. An example of this broad-based approach is LigoCyte's therapeutic candidate EL-246 which has applications in treating a broad range of conditions from sudden acute stroke to asthma.

The cornerstone of the ProteoFlow system is the ability to assess molecular interactions under flow conditions. Traditionally, in-vitro screening has been performed in static assays which do not mimic blood flow conditions. The shear forces generated during blood flow play a key role in protein and carbohydrate binding, and must be taken into account to predict in vivo therapeutic efficacy. LigoCyte has taken flow assays even one step further, with a compliment series of in-vivo assays which allow cross-comparisons between animal models and human in-vitro systems. This collection of unique flow-based models makes the ProteoFlow system a precise analytical tool which can greatly accelerate the therapeutic or diagnostic screening process.

LigoCyte's Proteo-Flow technology is particularly effective in the evaluation of:

• Leukocytes and their adherence to and transmigration through vessel walls
• Cytokine and chemokine-mediated signaling events
• Tumor cells and their adherence to and migration across vascular barriers
• Interactions between pathogens and tissues of the host
• Biological events associated with embryogenesis and the differentiation of tissues and the healing process.