THE WOODLANDS, Texas--Lexicon Genetics has launched a subscription internet program, allowing commercial and academic or nonprofit institutions to access OmniBank, its proprietary genomics library and database. Using Lexicon's website, http://www.lexgen.com, subscribers can reach 50,000 mouse clones, a collection of knockout mouse embryonic stem cells, and gene sequence information, which can provide predictive information on the action of potential therapeutic drug candidates and the validity of their targets.
Lexicon also announced that it has signed functional genomics agreements with several academic institutions for engineering custom knockout mice, including: Johns Hopkins University; Pennsylvania State University; University of Southern California; University of Rochester; Indiana University School of Medicine; and the Max Planck Society. Under these agreements, the institutions will specify their genes of interest and Lexicon will generate knockout mice. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.