Nonlinear Dynamics signed the first distributor agreements for its recently launched Progenesis 2D electrophoresis image analysis software last week. PerkinElmer Life Sciences and Amersham Pharmacia Biotech each agreed to distribute the software to complement their ProXpress and Ettan proteomics systems, respectively.
“Both are very important deals for us,” said Will Dracup, CEO of Nonlinear Dynamics. He noted that they each follow on existing deals for the company’s Phoretix line of image analysis software.
The Progenesis line builds on existing image analysis technology by automating the process, Dracup said. It is the first product to emerge from the companyÂ’s nonlinear technology development approach, described as a combination of automation techniques with image and profile analysis, data mining, statistical processing, data presentation, relationship studies, system integration, and interface design.
“Life is inherently nonlinear,” Dracup said. “So it would make sense for the tools that are examining life to be nonlinear too.”
Dracup said that Progenesis is the first software able to automate 2D gel image analysis. Currently, he said, industrial users run hundreds of gels a day, but each can take between two and eight hours of editing by a PhD-level researcher. The Progenesis system can automatically analyze a gel in five minutes, Dracup said.
The next product in the nonlinear technology pipeline is Progenera, a scalable Oracle database that will integrate information generated by Progenesis and other data sources. Dracup said Nonlinear Dynamics is also developing a distributed computing system called Accelerator, which will automatically distribute Progenesis analysis jobs to a bank of processors. Dracup said the Accelerator system scales linearly.
The new products are slated for commercial release in the first quarter of 2002. Dracup said the company intends to continue to leverage its existing client base as it expands into new areas.
Dracup said Nonlinear Dynamics is also seeking to increase its staff by 50 percent by the end of the financial year.
— BT