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Molecular biologist Austin Gurney, Ph.D.; proteomics scientist John Stults, Ph.D.; and bioinformatics scientist Thomas Wu, M.D., Ph.D., exemplify Genentech's integrated multidisciplinary approach to genomics-enabled drug discovery. |
For the past quarter century, Genentech scientists have been utilizing human genetic information and new technologies to identify genes and proteins with therapeutic value with much success. The completion in mid-2000 of the first draft of the human genome is something Genentech is uniquely positioned to utilize to its advantage. The company's strong competitive edge in genomics-enabled discovery stems from a solid, integrated foundation that provides its researchers access to the most advanced technologies as well as the biologic expertise necessary to identify and validate novel drug targets.
Drug discovery at Genentech starts with information. An in-house bioinformatics department is staffed by scientists like Dr. Thomas Wu, who possess a deep understanding of molecular biology and are skilled in computational methods for mining genomic data. A centralized database that stores experimental data on genes and proteins is accessible to researchers throughout the company. Through a powerful computing infrastructure, the bioinformatics department processes large amounts of sequence data from the Human Genome Project (HGP) around the clock. And, a collaboration with Incyte Genomics, Inc. provides Genentech with genomic data known as "expressed sequence tags." Genentech's own proprietary algorithms are also used to identify sequence homologies and detect novel secreted and transmembrane proteins.
The company's expertise is fully realized downstream from bioinformatics when biologists like Drs. Austin Gurney and John Stults develop physical clones of the genes identified to hold therapeutic potential, conduct the difficult process of expressing and purifying the proteins encoded by them and then identify the function of these proteins.
Molecular biologist Austin Gurney is working to find new receptor-hormone interactions. His group is hoping to catalog the genome by matching up all the molecular keys to the receptor locks expressed on the surface of cells in an effort to understand and control each of the chemical pathways in the body. Working with a lead from bioinformatics, Dr. Gurney's group recently discovered that a certain protein was the key that binds to and turns on a new receptor. Concurrently, another research lab at Genentech found that this same receptor was a protein highly expressed in colon cancer.
A specialist in proteomics, John Stults studies the concentration levels of proteins and how they are modified in their functional states. His group recently developed an advanced methodology for the differential analysis of normal versus tumor proteins that is more automated and far more sensitive to cell membrane proteins than traditional methods. The increased sensitivity is also important because tumors for study are becoming smaller in size.
No doubt, genomics has had a significant impact on the drug discovery process at Genentech - not only by accelerating the identification of genes and proteins with potential, but also by enabling the company to take full advantage of its core strength biology.