SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10 - Perlegen Sciences' recent move to new facilities dovetails with the gene-to-phenotype association studies it is gearing up to begin, said Jesse Hsu, the company's director of corporate development.
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In December the company moved from Santa Clara, Calif., into a 60,000-square-foot building in Mountain View, Calif. The new building has approximately half the space dedicated to a wet lab and the other half to computer facilities, Hsu told attendees of the 20th annual JPMorgan H&Q Healthcare Conference, which ends today.
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The wet lab will be used over the next few months to begin DNA analysis of human blood samples for association studies that Perlegen has planned. The studies represent the second phase in the company's progression towards finding gene targets associated with disease, said Hsu. The first phase—haplotype mapping—will be finished around August, according to Hsu.
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Hsu estimates the company will have its first gene targets toward the beginning of 2003. Perlegen plans to sell targets and to work to understand their biology to go further down the line towards drug development. "We have to eat while we grow," Hsu said.