Dr. Mark Ptashne To Join Scientific Advisory Board of Auilix Biopharma Inc.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 2002

Dr. Mark Ptashne has joined the scientific advisory board of Auilix Biopharma, Inc. Dr. Ptashne is a principle investigator at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Center in New York City. Dr. Ptashne is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is also a recipient of the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, America's most prestigious award in the biological sciences. He is also the author of the influential book "A Genetic Switch," the seminal exposition on genetic circuitry. His newest book, "Genes and Signals" covers both gene regulation and signal transduction systems. Dr. Ptashne has built his career uncovering the fundamental mechanisms that regulate gene expression; and he will be an important resource to the science team at Auilix.

Auilix is exploiting the field of regulatory genomics to accelerate the discovery of novel, small-molecule therapeutics for our most significant diseases. The Auilix drug discovery engine is a unique and integrated system for discovering key regulatory modules, such as enhancers, relevant to a disease-related pathway. By using these DNA modules, Auilix is engineering multi-dimensional assay systems to screen with unprecedented speed and reliability for lead compounds that most effectively target the particular pathway. The same assay system allows Auilix to pinpoint the drug-targeted protein and other proteins in the pathway, thereby assembling the complete mechanism of action.

Dr. Ptashne joins the Auilix Scientific Advisory Board which is composed of leaders in the field of gene regulation or "regulatory genomics." The Board includes Dr. Michael Levine, Dr. Eric Davidson, Dr. Cornelis Murre and Dr. Donald Rio. Dr. Levine, Professor of Genetics at UC Berkeley, as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, has worked to elucidate combinatorial regulation at complex enhancers, which are modular DNA sequences involved in the transcriptional control of genes. Dr. Davidson, Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, has been a pioneer and leader in the field of gene regulation since it's inception and is the author of the text books "Gene Activity in Early Development" and "Genomic Regulatory Systems." Dr. Murre, Professor of Biology at UC San Diego, has been working on gene transcriptional control involved in the differentiation of cells of the immune system. Dr. Rio, Professor of Genetics at UC Berkeley, brings deep expertise in molecular biology, biochemistry and modern developments in biotechnology.