Perlegen and Galileo to Study Genetic Basis of Diseases in Quebec Founder Population

NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (GenomeWeb News) - Perlegen Sciences and Galileo Genomics will together characterize genetic sharing and disease susceptibility in the Quebec Founder Population, the companies said today.

The aim of the collaboration is to create a linkage disequilibrium map consisting of about 40,000 SNPs, and to use this in searches for groups of genes associated with 21 common diseases. Initially, Mountain View, Calif.-based Perlegen will use its genotyping technology to evaluate 200,000 SNPs in DNA samples from 1,600 members of the Quebec Founder Population provided by Galileo. Based on the resulting map, Galileo, located in Montreal, will search for disease genes using its algorithms. The companies also plan to identify genes associated with drug response. Under the agreement, Perlegen licenses certain intellectual property rights from Galileo.

Galileo Genomics has collected over 18,000 DNA samples from the Quebec Founder Population and plans to increase this number to 35,000 by 2005. Earlier this month, Galileo obtained a $CA7 million ($5.3 milllion) loan and raised $CA11.15 million ($8.51 million) in additional equity funding.

Perlegen Sciences recently announced collaborations with Pfizer and AstraZeneca.