January 23rd, 2003 — TissueInformatics.Inc — "The Tissue Information Company®".
Pittsburgh, PA —
TissueInformatics (www.TissueInformatics.com) and Windber Research Institute (WRI) (www.wriwindber.org) announced today that they have formed a unique collaboration to develop software that will provide a powerful research platform that could lead to faster, more accurate diagnosis of breast cancer and improved drug and other therapies for treatment. The companies are developing the industry's first software package for the quantitative structural analysis of cancerous breast tissue — a way of digitizing breast tissue and then automatically analyzing the images through highly accurate machine vision. Current diagnostic research is primarily manual, making it subject to differences in human interpretation.
This unique software module, to be offered as part of TissueInformatics' TissueAnalytics™ tissue analysis software, will enable WRI's pioneering biomedical research team to analyze its substantial collection of breast cancer tissue samples in its high throughput proteomics and genomics laboratory. The results of these analyses, combined with the corresponding clinical classifications, will help researchers better understand the disease by objectively identifying and measuring the structural changes occurring in cancerous breast tissue.
"Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States and accounts for 32 percent of all female cancers," said Peter Johnson, MD, TissueInformatics Chairman and CEO. "This collaboration will provide researchers with the tools to more objectively and accurately identify tissue changes that indicate cancer growth which could lead to better diagnosis and treatment."
TissueInformatics is widely known for its expertise in tissue image analysis, thorough scientific understanding of tissue morphology, and experience in the correlation of quantitative histomorphometric data with other biological datasets such as gene expression profiles. Its tissue analysis software provides researchers with a novel approach in the discovery of diagnostic and therapeutic targets to treat breast cancer and other diseases.
F. Nicholas Jacobs, President/CEO WRI noted that the collaboration between TissueInformatics and WRI would eventually be expanded to other important disease areas. Richard Somiari, PhD, WRI COO and CSO added, "TissueInformatics and WRI create a unique combination of scientific talent and resources and together will make a significant contribution to advancing the study of breast cancer. We look forward to a long and productive association."
About Windber Research Institute
WRI (www.wriwindber.org), located on the campus of Windber Medical Center in Windber, PA, was established two years ago with the assistance of U.S. Congressman John P. Murtha. Its unique position as a center for high throughput proteomics and genomics has attracted such internationally prominent organizations as Amersham Bioscience, InforMax, NCR's Teradata, Prosanos, and MSA, Inc. As the breast cancer research center for Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Department of Defense, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Henry Jackson Foundation for Advancement of Military Medicine WRI, has become a national and international magnet for biomedical research.
About TissueInformatics.Inc
TissueInformatics (www.TissueInformatics.com) is the pioneer of automated hyperquantification analysis of normal and pathological tissue. TissueInformatics integrates sophisticated tissue imaging with its proprietary tissue analysis software to enable precise mathematical comparison of tissues for applications in drug discovery, correlative genomics with tissue morphology, automated toxicology, pre-clinical and clinical pharmacology, and quality assurance in tissue engineering. TissueInformatics has revolutionized the tissue analysis process by enabling automated quantitative analysis of tissue, enabling the company to provide the industry with both TissueAnalytics™ Software and TissueAnalytics™ Services.
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Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements, which involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty. Such statements are only predictions, and the actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, risks associated with TissueInformatics.Inc's (the "Company's") dependence upon the creation of strategic alliances with providers for complementary services and products and the need to keep pace with rapid technological change, the Company's dependence for future revenues on its ability to increase sales of its tissue imaging and analysis applications, the development and availability of competitive products or technologies, and the Company's dependence on patents and its ability to defend its intellectual property rights. The Company specifically disclaims any intention or duty to update any forward-looking statements, and these statements represent the Company's current outlook as of the date given.
Jennifer Faines
Dymun + Company
412-281-2345
jfaines@dymun.com
Todd A. Joron
Senior Vice President
(412) 488-1100
TJoron@TissueInformatics.com
Lesa Skotnicki
Director, Marketing and Public Relations, Windber Research Institute
(814)467-3463
L.Skotnicki@wriwind
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