EraGen will develop a new functional genomics software suite that helps scientists use genomic sequence data to solve biological and biomedical problems in this Phase II period. The product will take the scientist beyond classical approaches to sequence annotation, which use BLAST searches to identify homologs, and assume that two proteins related by common ancestry must have analogous functions. The Phase I period demonstrated that this approach to database annotation is often misleading, and frequently misses meaningful interpretations in metazoan proteins. The Phase II period will refine and fully develop the software initiated in Phase I. This software will serve to identify where function might have changed during divergence of a sequence family, and also where recruitment of function has occurred using rates of change from the DNA sequence. In addition, the tools to exploit probabilistic ancestral sequences for both protein/protein and DNA/protein alignments will be fully developed. These tools will detect distant homologs, identify errors across sequence databases, and augment current approaches to gene finding.

Proposed Commercial Applications

Not Available

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase II (R44)
Project #
2R44HG002060-03
Application #
6298635
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SSS-Y (01))
Program Officer
Brooks, Lisa
Project Start
1999-09-01
Project End
2003-05-31
Budget Start
2001-06-01
Budget End
2002-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$368,242
Indirect Cost
Name
Eragen Biosciences, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53717