Bioinformatics software donated to Shanghai government for use in research initiative to discover a vaccine against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
InforSense has announced the donation of its advanced discovery informatics platform together with a range of life science applications to the Shanghai government for use in its major bioinformatics research initiative to discover a vaccine against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
The Shanghai government recently initiated a series of scientific research programmes with China's top scientists to use advanced genomics technologies to combat the current Sars outbreak.
The programmes include the development of fast and precise diagnosis methods, a vaccine against Sars and effective treatments for Sars patients. The current software donation includes InforSense's Kensington Discovery Edition (KDE) enterprise discovery platform, deployment tools and domain applications.
Featuring the new KDE GeneSense ontology-based genomics data interpretation solution, jointly developed by InforSense and Affibody, this software will provide Chinese scientists and their international collaborators with access to leading-edge technology for accelerating this critical discovery research programme.
The Shanghai government has warmly welcomed the donation.
"Today Sars is a life-threatening disease", commented Yi Ping Li, president of the Shanghai government science and technology committee. "We need the support and collaboration of the international scientific community to identify and implement a long-term solution.
InforSense's software is a very valuable component in this effort." Yike Guo, CEO of InforSense, added: "With rapid travel, Sars has become a world-wide problem and China is at the front line in fighting the disease.
InforSense solutions are able to support the international collaborative discovery effort required to win the battle." "Affibody is pleased to partner InforSense in this donation," added Torben Jorgensen, CEO of Affibody.
"We believe GeneSense's innovative bioinformatics interpretation technology can make a significant contribution to this crucial research." The donated software will be installed at the Shanghai Center for Bioinformation Technology (SCBIT), which will provide technical support to the Sars research community in its use.
Yixue Li commented: "Bioinformatics plays a crucial role in China's Sars research programme.
Our need for an advanced software platform to enable us to easily integrate bioinformatics activities across the country is urgent. Kensington Discovery Edition is the best platform for organising such mission-critical large-scale collaborative research.
We are very excited by this donation."
