FROM: MERCK & CO., INC.
Whitehouse Station, N.J.
DR. Jeffrey L. Sturchio--(908) 423-3981
John Doorley--(908) 423-4081
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRST INSTALLMENT OF MERCK GENE INDEX DATA RELEASED TO PUBLIC
DATABASES: COOPERATIVE EFFORT PROMISES TO SPEED SCIENTIFIC
UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN GENOME
Whitehouse Station N.J. February 10, 1995--Merck & Co., Inc., and Washington
University today announced the public release of the first 15,000 expressed
human gene sequences from their collaborative effort to identify cDNA clones
for expressed human genes, and to make the sequence data and related physical
clones broadly available as research tools. This project, known as the Merck
Gene Index since its inception less than five months ago, is expected to
produce 300,000 human gene sequences over the next 18 months. Washington
University will rapidly report the sequence data to public databases for use
on an unrestricted basis by interested researchers worldwide.
"The Merck Gene Index has tremendous promise for catalyzing
interdisciplinary research on the human genome," said Dr. Thomas Caskey,
Senior Vice President, Basic Research, of the Merck Research Laboratories,
and President of the Human Genome Organization. "Using the Sequence
information Merck is making available in collaboration with Washington
University and other centers in genomics and bioinformatics, researchers will
find new ways to understand gene expression, which will lead ultimately to
new therapies for diseases as yet unconquered. This kind of cutting-edge
research is what drew me to Merck, and what makes it such an exciting
research environment."
The Merck Gene Index is a broad collaborative effort, coordinated by Dr.
Alan Williamson, Vice President, Research Strategy Worldwide, and Keith O.
Elliston, Associate Director, Bioinformatics, of the Merck Research
Laboratories. Dr. Greg Lennon's laboratory at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (Livermore, California) has been supplying arrayed cDNA clones to
Dr. Robert Waterston's laboratory (the Genome Sequencing Center) at the
Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, Missouri) for
sequencing. "Our collaborators have worked together to expedite the project,
while maintaining the highest standards of quality," said Merck's Keith
Elliston, "which has enabled us to make excellent progress towards providing
a much needed public resource for research on the human genome."
The sequence data are being submitted to the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST)
division of GenBank on a regular basis for immediate distribution. (GenBank,
built and distributed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information
(NCBI) is a central repository of publicly-available gene sequence
information, widely known and heavily used by researchers in government,
academe, and industry). It is expected that nearly 4,000 individual
sequences will be submitted to the database each week; as the operation
matures, sequence submissions will be made on a daily basis. No one will
have advance access to - nor can they delay or restrict the release of - any
of the sequence data from Washington University. This includes Merck
researchers, who will only gain access to the data via the same public
databases available to all interested researchers.
According to Dr. Mark Boguski of the NCBI, the sequence information will
be distributed to GenBank's international collaborators, the European
Bioinformatics Institute (Cambridge, England) and the DNA Data Bank of Japan
(Mishima, Japan), as well as to the National Center for Genome Resources
(Santa Fe, New Mexico) and to the public within 48 hours after receipt of the
data. The data, which will be available on the Internet from the NCBI's ftp
(ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and Worldwide Web (http://www.ncbi.nlm.hih.gov/) servers,
are free of all restrictions. Commented Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director of
the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of
Health, "The release of this first installment of cDNA sequence tags into
GenBank is welcome news indeed. The rate of sequence production and the fact
that the information will be freely available has been greeted with much
enthusiasm in the scientific community. In fact, an international consortium
has already formed to initiate the important task of mapping these gene
sequences to their proper locations on human chromosomes. We can now look
forward expectantly to the positioning of a large proportion of the human
expressed genes on the human physical map in the next two or three years,
which will greatly aid the critical task of identifying genes which
predispose to human illness."
The minimal set of cDNA clones representing the unique identified human
genes, the index to the genome, will also be made available by appropriate
commercial and non-profit organizations, as PCR products gridded onto nylon
membranes, and as individual clones and sets of clones in 384-well plates in
the future. These resources will then be distributed at a reasonable cost
via established networks to researchers who wish to do sequencing and mapping
of individual gene or sets of genes, or for any other research purpose.
Merck's decision to submit the Merck Gene Index sequence data to GenBank
is consistent with the goal (announced on September 28, 1994, when these
plans were first disclosed) of gaining the widest possible dissemination of
this information. As Merck's Dr. Alan Williamson notes, "Merck's approach is
the most efficient way to encourage progress in genomics research and its
commercial applications: by giving all research workers unrestricted access
to the resources of the Merck Gene Index, the probability of discovery will
increase. The basic knowledge thus gained will lead ultimately to new
therapeutics for a wide range of disease--while providing opportunities--and
preserving incentives--for investment in future gene-based product
development." It is expected that a number of value-added database efforts
by biomedical researchers around the world will also make use of the Merck-
funded sequence information to facilitate genome sequencing, gene mapping,
and gene expression studies.
Merck & Co., Inc., headquartered in Whitehouse Station, N.J., is a
worldwide research-intensive company that discovers, develops, produces, and
markets human and animal health products and services. Its Medco unit is the
leading pharmacy benefits management company.
Washington University School of Medicine is among the premier medical
schools and research institutions in the world. The University is on of the
to five recipients of research funding from the National Institutes of
Health. The Genome Sequencing Center was established in August 1993 and,
with a $29.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, it is
sequencing the genomes of two model organisms, the nematode C. elegans and
the yeast S. cerevisiae.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, managed by the University of
California for the U.S. Department of Energy, conducts research important to
national goals. Current programs include national defense and controlling
the spread of nuclear weapon, as well as research in energy, biomedicine, and
the environment. The Laboratory has a long-standing commitment to enhance
the nation's economic competitiveness and to support education.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information is a unit of the
National Library of Medicine, located on the campus of the U.S. National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
ADDITIONAL PRESS CONTACTS
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
Mr. Jeffrey Sketchley, (510) 422-0147
National Center for Biotechnology Information/National Library of Medicine
Mr. Robert Mehnert, (301) 496-6308
Washington University School of Medicine
Ms. Linda Sage, (314) 362-8253