Cira Discovery Science Launches at Science Center Port

October 10 2003--Cira Discovery Sciences, Inc—the newest resident of the region's premier IT and life science business incubator, the Science Center Port—has developed technology that helps researchers quickly find complex patterns and relationships in their data.

"The sequencing of the human genome has opened up an incredible opportunity to understand genetic foundations of human diseases, but this opportunity also brings a great challenge," said Cira President and CEO Wade Rogers. "Our company offers next-generation technology that allows researchers to understand how the genome is expressed both in health and in disease."

Using their proprietary algorithms and software, Cira can search patient data to find the kind of information clinicians and researchers need—like which genes are associated with which diseases or adverse drug effects. Armed with this knowledge, researchers can more quickly find effective tests, treatments and cures for a wide range of diseases.

Cira is working closely with Infinity Pharmaceuticals in Boston to look for patterns in chemical data for their drug discovery programs. "Patterns are a way for researchers to find subtle combinations of characteristics that make a molecule work as a medicine," Rogers said. "Our technology lets them do this."

Rogers founded the company earlier this year along with his colleagues Allan Moser and Dennis Underwood. Underwood has spent his entire 20-year career in drug discovery. Both Rogers and Moser are physicists by training, but have spent much of their careers in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

"Not long after we decided to go out on our own, we began looking for a place to set up shop." Moser said. "We looked at several business incubators in the area, but quickly decided that the Science Center Port was the best location for us"

"We are particularly impressed by the industry access and contacts that we have made simply by being in the Science Center every day." Rogers said. "You can't avoid networking here."

About Cira Discovery Sciences: Formed in 2003, Cira utilizes its proprietary pattern discovery technologies in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with applications across the entire spectrum of the drug discovery process. (www.ciradiscovery.com)

About the Science Center: The Science Center's mission is to grow regional wealth by developing knowledge communities that fuse talent, capital and opportunity. Since 1963, the Science Center has helped to launch over 350 technology companies. (www.ScienceCenter.org)




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