Kinexus Bioinformatics last week launched its protein kinase microarray with 200 recombinant human protein kinases for screening. The microarray can be used for drug target counter-screening, to identify novel kinase substrates, establish kinase antibody specificities, and for the discovery and testing of protein kinase-protein and protein kinase-compound interactions, according to the Vancouver, Canada-based firm.
All compounds selected using the new array can be further validated for direct activity effects in vitro with Kinexus' kinase-inhibitor profiling services, the firm added. Customers can also use the company's Kinex 800 antibody microarray services, to define endogenous physiological substrates of target kinases in order to measure the effects of drug leads in vivo in cultured cells and tissues from the new protein array platform (see BAN 9/1/2009).
BioDiscovery last week launched the fifth version of its Nexus Copy Number software for DNA copy number analysis of microarray derived data.
The new version includes a cloud-based database, called Nexus DB, for secure storage, cross project queries, and global collaboration; and a survival predictive power tool to identify aberrant regions of the genome that have a high degree of survival prediction accuracy. Nexus Copy Number can also now directly import from and export data to the UCSC Genome Browser, display probe-level data for multiple samples in a single display, support Affymetrix CYCHP files, and incorporate methylation data, the company said.