Nanogen Issued Data Mining Patent

Nanogen Inc announced that it has been awarded an additional United States Patent relating to a system and methods for searching a genetic sequence database. U.S. Patent No. 6,249,784, entitled "System and Method for Searching and Processing Databases Comprising Named Annotated Text Strings" (the "'784 patent"), is the twenty-fifth U.S. patent issued to the Company.

The '784 patent describes methods and systems directed to software-based sequence analysis through "data mining." The invention describes a method of "mining" the very large and rapidly growing volume of public nucleotide sequence databases. These methods may allow researchers to perform in-context database searches on NAT databases, such as the publicly available GENBANK database, in a fast and efficient manner. The patent further describes customized analysis and searching with a variety of keywords by enabling users interactively to edit search results and automatically convert these search results into search keys that are used to conduct subsequent searches.

Nanogen markets its NanoChip Molecular Biology Workstation system to scientists and genomics laboratories, setting new standards for SNP scoring. In addition, Nanogen is developing a series of electronics-based products to help researchers and clinical healthcare providers accelerate their practical understanding and use of genomic information. The products introduced and under development are intended to provide quick and accurate analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins, and may eventually "bridge" the gap between the research and clinical settings. The Nanogen system is intended for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. For additional information please visit Nanogen's Web site at www.nanogen.com.

Contact Kieran T. Gallahue, president of Nanogen, Inc, 858-410-4600.