March 2007
Hamilton and Gene Express Announce Collaboration between Hamilton MICROLAB® STAR Workstation Platform and StaRT-PCR™ based Applications
Reno, Nevada and Bonaduz, Switzerland and Toledo, OH - November 17, 2006
Hamilton Company and Gene Express today announced a global collaboration agreement for the supply of MICROLAB® STAR pipetting workstations with Gene Express's StaRT-PCR™ technology.
This collaboration brings together an emerging leader in advanced laboratory automation and a developing market standard for quantitative and quality-controlled multi-gene expression measurement.
This innovative new system allows complete, high throughput processing of StaRT-PCR™ samples for analysis of tissue, blood, xenografts, formalin fixation paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples and cell culture samples performed under strictly controlled GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) conditions.
The Hamilton MICROLAB® STAR pipetting workstation can be equipped with up to 16 spanning pipette heads on one arm, as well as, a 96, 384 or nano-volume pipette head.
Gene Express's StaRT-PCR™ technology is the developing market standard for quantitative and quality-controlled multi-gene transcript abundance measurement for research and development of drugs, biomarkers and molecular diagnostics.
Gerald Vardzel, CEO of Gene Express, commented, “This collaboration is an example of our strategy to partner with leading providers of technology to offer the most comprehensive solutions to the drug development market.”
Gene Express is setting the bar for drug development by providing quantitative and quality-controlled data, which increases the efficiency of drug and molecular diagnostic test discovery and development which, itself, is expected to accelerate the development of personalized medicine and molecular diagnostics. Gene Express’s proprietary StaRT-PCR™ technology supports biomarker clinical development programs for pharmaceutical companies, while providing differentiated value to the Company’s strategic partners for their existing and/or future products. Through demonstrated experience, StaRT-PCR™ technology has led to the development of Gene Express’s own proprietary molecular diagnostic products as well as the diagnostic products of the Company’s strategic partners.
About Gene Express, Inc.
Gene Express, Inc. accelerates and enables drug development by providing standardized genomic data. The Company’s proprietary and patented StaRT-PCR™ (Standardized Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction) platform technology for measuring gene expression levels in cells, tissue and blood is being used by numerous pharmaceutical concerns, as well as leading academic centers. The Company’s $3 billion focus market for licensing and contract services includes the drug development, academic and molecular diagnostics segments. Additional information is available on the Company’s website at www.geneexpressinc.com. About Hamilton Company
The Hamilton Company was established in 1953 and has facilities in Reno, Nevada and Bonaduz, Switzerland. It specializes in the design and manufacture of instrumentation and automated systems for precision liquid handling applications in R&D, analytical chemistry and clinical laboratories. Additional information is available on the Company’s website at www.hamiltonrobotics.com. Any forecasts, plans, projections and other information contained in this press release describing events or results that may occur in the future are “forward-looking statements” as defined in the United States Private Securities litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and important factors that are beyond the control of the Company that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from the results presently anticipated or projected. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and any such forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to this cautionary statement. All forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this release and are based on current expectations. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.