Press Release

3rd Millennium Develops Largest Repository of Publicly-Available Gene Expression Data For Hereditary Disease Foundation

Database Open to Public Fall 2002: Major 3rd Millennium Corporate Milestone

CAMBRIDGE, MA - June 10, 2002 -- 3rd Millennium announced today that is has completed the development of a web-based bioinformatics system that will be the largest public repository of gene expression data. Developed to support Huntington's Disease (HD) research funded by the Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF) based in California, the NeuMetrix Data Repository will help researchers from around the world better identify new therapeutic targets to treat HD. The NeuMetrix system contains over 15,000 data files generated from microarray experiments on several different HD model organisms. These experiments were conducted by the Hereditary Disease Array Group (HDAG), which is comprised of scientists from ten different research organizations around the world.

"One of the major objectives of the HDAG is to facilitate the development of innovative approaches to data management and interpretation, previously a major bottleneck. The NeuMetrix Data Repository developed by 3rd Millennium is a very robust system that meets our complex research needs exceptionally well," said Jim Olson Assistant Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and coordinator of the HDAG. "The NeuMetrix Data Repository provides an extremely sophisticated search capability for expression data which enables scientists around the world to compare and to analyze HD data generated from different disease models. I expect it will provide substantial benefit to HD research."

Nancy Wexler, President of the HDF added, "The NeuMetrix Database is a spectacular achievement that will help scientists throughout the world."

Jack Pollard, Principal Investigator, Bioinformatics at 3rd Millennium said, "In conducting inherited neurodegenerative disease expression profiling experiments, the HDAG was faced with the challenge of distinguishing expression changes which are true disease markers from those that either are general markers of neuronal damage or arise from secondary effects. 3rd Millennium designed the NeuMetrix Data Repository to provide great flexibility in cross-referencing gene expression data, biological context of the samples, and the annotations of genes. By integrating biological context with these data, researchers can produce more scientifically and statistically relevant queries of their data. This powerful capability is enhanced by the system's unique search capability allowing scientists to build complex queries easily."

3rd Millennium developed The NeuMetrix Data Repository for the HDF as part of a comprehensive multi-year project undertaken following 3rd Millennium's award of a $1.8 million Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant in October 2000 by the U.S. Department of Commerce. 3rd Millennium was awarded the ATP grant to develop state-of-the-art software to improve the ability of researchers to manage biological pathway data. Specifically, 3rd Millennium's Pathways Information Project seeks to semantically integrate many types and sources of biological data in the context of pathway information. A broad range of applications will be supported such as target validation and toxicity screening to help scientists better correlate gene function, gene expression, and protein interaction data with the disease models of specific organs, tissues and cells.

"We believed that a close collaboration with Dr. Olson and other leading researchers utilizing a broad range of genomic data would benefit our development of the key technologies needed for the Pathways Information Management System we are currently developing," said Richard Dweck, CEO of 3rd Millennium. "The launch of the NeuMetrix Data Repository is one of several important milestones in what has to date been a very successful initiative for 3rd Millennium. We look forward to leveraging the knowledge we have gained and the technologies we have created to both further our development of the Pathways Information Project, as well as develop new innovative bioinformatics systems for our clients."

Additional Information on the Hereditary Disease Foundation
The Hereditary Disease Foundation, established in 1968, initiated and coordinated the search that localized the Huntington disease gene in 1983 and the collaborative Research Group which isolated the gene after a decade long search. The HDAG is one of the many projects the HDF sponsors. The HDF supports cutting edge science, including the development of mouse models, studies of protein-protein interactions, strategies for gene therapy, and intercellular signaling in striatal neurons. Through grants, contracts, post-doctoral fellowships, and its interdisciplinary workshop program, the Foundation continues to build a research community committed to the cure of Huntington's disease and related disorders. Further information can be obtained from the Foundation's website at www.hdfoundation.org

Additional Information on 3rd Millennium
3rd Millennium Inc., located in Cambridge, MA is a leading bioinformatics consultancy that works with pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic clients on a project basis to design and develop software systems critical to early stage biological research and discovery. 3rd Millennium's expertise is in custom biological database applications, microarray informatics and analytics, and data and analysis integration. The company has extensive experience developing systems for laboratory information management, microarray-based gene expression profiling, gene analysis and annotation, genomic and proteomic data integration and versioning, and biological pathway modeling. Additional information can be found at http://www.3rdmill.com.