Designed to Expedite Study of Complex Proteins
MADISON, WISCONSIN (December 9, 2008)
Promega Corporation in conjunction with Kazusa DNA Research Institute (KDRI) in Chiba Prefecture, Japan will soon offer vectors encoding Promega HaloTag™ with genetic content from KDRI’s catalog. The KDRI content derives from large, typically difficult to clone human genes. In addition, there will be a comprehensive catalog of human transcription factors commonly used in research and drug discovery. As a result, researchers can gain ready access to the multi-functional HaloTag fused to these larger proteins.
The initial offering encompasses over 1900 KDRI ORF clones in Promega Flexi® vector. It includes the coding sequence for HaloTag, a multifunctional protein tag that can be used for cellular imaging as well as protein purification and immobilization. Promega will soon launch protein arrays for functional studies that utilize HaloTag covalent binding properties for binding proteins to glass slides, while cellular imaging with fluorescent ligands to HaloTag is well established. The first vectors will be available at the start of 2009 through KDRI (http://www.kazusa.or.jp/kop/) and will be distributed globally.
“We believe this new genomic resource will be widely accepted in the world’s scientific communities, and hope this will contribute to the solution of problems in healthcare through the understanding of various gene functions which, in turn, should facilitate drug development as well,” said Dr. Michio Oishi, President of KDRI foundation and Research Director of KDRI.
Promega and KDRI have had a research collaboration for several years and this agreement is a natural progression from that collaboration. KDRI plans to continue to expand the genetic resource for HaloTag fusion proteins by adding more open reading frame (ORF) clones collected by an international ORFeome collaboration in which KDRI is one of the active participants (http://www.kazusa.or.jp/e/index.html).
About Kazusa DNA Research Institute (KDRI)
KDRI was founded in October 1991 as a non-profit research organization supported by the local government of Chiba Prefecture. It is located in the "Kazusa Academia Park" at the eastern edge of Kisarazu city. The main research activity of KDRI is to study genetic information encoded in DNA. In particular, KDRI is well known for the studies of plant genome sequencing, plant/bacterial metabolomics, and human cDNAs known as “KIAA” clones. For more information about KDRI, please visit http://www.kazusa.or.jp/
Contacts:
Penny Patterson
Director,Corporate Affairs
Promega Corporation
+1 (608) 274-4330
penny.patterson@promega.com
Osamu Ohara, Ph.D.
Department Head of Human Genome Research
Kazusa DNA Research Institute
+81 438 52 3913
ohara@kazusa.or.jp
About Promega
Promega Corporation is a leader in providing innovative solutions and technical support to the life sciences industry. The company's 2,000 products enable scientists worldwide to advance their knowledge in genomics, proteomics, cellular analysis, molecular diagnostics and human identification. Founded in 1978, the company is headquartered in Madison, WI, USA with branches in 15 countries and over 50 global distributors. For more information about Promega, visit www.promega.com.
These pages contain communications on Promega product releases and corporate activities. For additional new product information, see the new products page or the specific product or application area.
For more information about a new release article or about Promega in general, contact Penny Patterson at 1-608-274-4330 or complete this form.