LifeMap Sciences, a Subsidiary of BioTime, Announces Release of GeneCards® Version 3.12 and the Introduction of GeneCards PlusTM

New release features powerful tools for registered members

ALAMEDA, Calif.--()--LifeMap Sciences, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc., announced today the release of GeneCards® Version 3.12. The new release is available at www.genecards.org. GeneCards® is an online database that provides comprehensive information on all known human genes. The new release features the launch of LifeMap Science’s Premium Services platform, which offers our strong user base access to GeneCards Plus’ powerful tools and advanced functionality integrated with the LifeMap Integrated Knowledgebase, which includes GeneCards®, MalaCards and LifeMap Discovery®.

GeneCards® 3.12 introduces GeneCards PlusTM, a suite of productivity tools for registered members. The new features include:

  • GeneAnalytics™ – A powerful and easy-to-use gene set analysis tool, which integrates proprietary gene expression data from LifeMap Discovery®, and significantly enriched gene associations to disorders, pathways, GO terms and compounds from GeneCards® and MalaCards.
  • GeneALaCart – A revamped user interface for GeneALaCart, GeneCards’ batch query tool, with the capability to receive a complete quota’s worth of gene details.
  • VarElect – A new Next Generation Sequencing Variant Selection facility, which finds and ranks genes related to user-specified phenotype terms.
  • PathCards – A new Pathways-Centric site, which unifies human biological pathways consolidated from 12 sources into SuperPaths, based on gene-content similarity.

More information about GeneCards Plus is available at http://www.genecards.org/index.php?path=/HTML/page/aboutGeneCardsPlus.

Additional features of the new GeneCards® release include:

  • More than 169,000 gene entries, including the world’s largest collection of more than ~123,300 non-protein-coding RNAs.
  • Protein subcellular localization images with evidence and confidence scores from the COMPARTMENTS subcellular localization database.
  • Transcription Factor Regulatory Elements motif viewer and Consensus sequence from HOMER.
  • Enhanced post-translational modification with newly introduced ubiquitination and glycosylation sites from NextProt.
  • Links to CYP alleles and their associated effects from the Human Cytochrome P450 Allele Nomenclature Database.
  • Enhanced proteomics via the addition of 23 protein expression tissues from MOPED.
  • Addition of journal name to article listings in the Publications section.
  • Improved presentation of signaling molecules and growth factors from LifeMap Discovery.

“Our GeneCards development team is proud to see the emergence of two new and exciting affiliated tools. VarElect will utilize the most comprehensive gene information present inside GeneCards to highlight the best candidates for a disease’s causative gene. And PathCards, with its featured SuperPaths, will provide users with a one-stop source for pathways, their contained genes and their mutual relationships,” said Professor Doron Lancet, Ph.D., Head of the Crown Human Genome Center at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

“We are excited to introduce GeneCards Plus, now part of the LifeMap Integrated Knowledgebase,” stated Yaron Guan-Golan, Chief Marketing Officer of LifeMap Sciences. “GeneCards Plus offers GeneCards users access to our Premium Services platform, which enables researchers to leverage all three of our databases to further their research.”

About LifeMap Sciences, Inc.

LifeMap Sciences’ (www.lifemapsc.com) core technology and business is based on its Integrated Biomedical Knowledgebase and discovery platform for biomedical research, which includes GeneCards®, the leading human gene database; LifeMap Discovery®, the database of embryonic development, stem cell research and regenerative medicine; and MalaCards, the human disease database. LifeMap’s products are used in many institutions including academia, research hospitals, patent offices, and leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. In addition to its currently marketed products, LifeMap is pursuing several new internet and informatics products which leverage its existing products and their large user base.

LifeMap Sciences holds the exclusive worldwide license to market GeneCards® and MalaCards from Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science. As one of the leading suppliers of online databases for information on genes, cells, and diseases, LifeMap Sciences intends to continually improve the quality of its products as well as extend its applications to the general public through future consumer product offerings in the field of mobile health by its subsidiary LifeMap Solutions, Inc.

About the Weizmann Institute of Science and GeneCards

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to scientists, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. and M.Sc. students, and scientific, technical and administrative staff. In addition, visiting scientists and their families – over 500 from 35 countries are regularly hosted at the Institute. The Institute was founded in 1934 following a donation to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, a noted biochemist and biotechnologist, who envisioned the establishment of a world-class scientific research center in Israel, and later also became the first President of the State of Israel. Weizmann Institute’s Feinberg Graduate School, established in 1958, has 1000 M.Sc. and Ph.D. students enrolled in studies covering the Institute’s five faculties: Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics and Computer Science. The Institute’s technology transfer arm, Yeda Research and Development Co. was the first company of its kind in Israel, and is currently one of the most successful worldwide. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment. Particular excellence in bioinformatics and systems biology is manifested, among others, in the GeneCards project, initiated in 1996, under the leadership of Prof. Doron Lancet of the Dept. of Molecular Genetics, Head of the Crown Human Genome Center and The Ralph D. and Lois R. Silver Professor of Human Genomics. A team of 10 led by Marilyn Safran continuously innovates and keeps GeneCards as a world-top human gene compendium, automatically mining and integrating 100 worldwide web resources.

About BioTime

BioTime is a biotechnology company engaged in research and product development in the field of regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine refers to therapies based on stem cell technology that are designed to rebuild cell and tissue function lost due to degenerative disease or injury. BioTime’s focus is on pluripotent stem cell technology based on human embryonic stem (“hES”) cells and induced pluripotent stem (“iPS”) cells. hES and iPS cells provide a means of manufacturing every cell type in the human body and therefore show considerable promise for the development of a number of new therapeutic products. BioTime’s therapeutic and research products include a wide array of proprietary PureStem® progenitors, HyStem® hydrogels, culture media, and differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia™ (a HyStem® product) as a biocompatible, implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based matrix for cell delivery in human clinical applications, and is planning to initiate a pivotal clinical trial around Renevia™, in 2014. In addition, BioTime has developed Hextend®, a blood plasma volume expander for use in surgery, emergency trauma treatment and other applications. Hextend® is manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by Hospira, Inc. and in South Korea by CJ HealthCare Corporation, under exclusive licensing agreements.

BioTime is also developing stem cell and other products for research, therapeutic, and diagnostic use through its subsidiaries:

  • Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. is developing pluripotent stem-cell based therapies in neurology and oncology, including AST-OPC1 oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and stroke, and AST-VAC2, an allogeneic dendritic cell-based cancer vaccine.
  • BioTime Asia, Ltd., a Hong Kong company, may offer and sell products for research use for BioTime’s ESI BIO Division.
  • Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. is an Israel-based biotechnology company focused on developing stem cell-based therapies for retinal and neurological disorders, including the development of retinal pigment epithelial cells for the treatment of macular degeneration, and treatments for multiple sclerosis.
  • ESI BIO is the research and product marketing division of BioTime, providing stem cell researchers with products and technologies to enable them to translate their work into the clinic, including PureStem® progenitors and HyStem® hydrogels.
  • LifeMap Sciences, Inc. markets, sells, and distributes GeneCards®, the leading human gene database, as part of an integrated database suite that also includes the LifeMap Discovery® database of embryonic development, stem cell research, and regenerative medicine, and MalaCards, the human disease database.
  • LifeMap Solutions, Inc. is a subsidiary of LifeMap Sciences focused on developing mobile health (mHealth) products.
  • OncoCyte Corporation is developing products and technologies to diagnose and treat cancer, including PanC-Dx™, with three clinical trials currently underway.
  • OrthoCyte Corporation is developing therapies to treat orthopedic disorders, diseases and injuries.
  • ReCyte Therapeutics, Inc. is developing therapies to treat a variety of cardiovascular and related ischemic disorders, as well as products for research using cell reprogramming technology.

BioTime stock is traded on the NYSE MKT, ticker BTX. For more information, please visit www.biotimeinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements pertaining to future financial and/or operating results, future growth in research, technology, clinical development, and potential opportunities for BioTime and its subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as “will,” “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates”) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the businesses of BioTime and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in BioTime's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. BioTime disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Contacts

BioTime, Inc.
Judith Segall, 510-521-3390 ext. 301
jsegall@biotimemail.com
or
LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
Kenneth Elsner, 781-826-7719
ke@lifemapsc.com

Contacts

BioTime, Inc.
Judith Segall, 510-521-3390 ext. 301
jsegall@biotimemail.com
or
LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
Kenneth Elsner, 781-826-7719
ke@lifemapsc.com