Symyx Direct Bridges The Gap Between Bioinformatics And Cheminformatics

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 22, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Symyx Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:SMMX) has released the Symyx Direct 7.0 data cartridge — an innovative, one-stop solution for registering, searching, and retrieving chemical and biological entities stored in relational databases. Supporting the continued expansion of biologics in today's pharmaceutical, biotech, and materials science R&D pipelines, Symyx Direct 7.0 improves R&D efficiency, project team collaboration, and IP management by enabling multidisciplinary project teams to visualize, explore, and compare novel macromolecular sequences and chemical structures stored in a single, fully searchable corporate registry system.

"Biologics now represent over 30%, and in some cases over 50%, of our customers' product pipelines," said Dr. Trevor Heritage, president, Symyx Software. "Responding to our industry's critical need for end-to-end combined biologics and chemical acquisition, registration, and management — and guided by our Biologics Advisory Board — Symyx is pleased to introduce an enhanced data cartridge that improves the management and re-use of broader, deeper IP in today's increasingly integrated chemical and biological R&D environment."

Many scientists today are searching for ways to reduce off-target effects and improve the stability of chemically modified short interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences, peptides, and other large molecules. Aiding these efforts, Symyx Direct 7.0 supports natural post- translational modifications (PTM) and custom modifications while also providing seamless support for D-amino acids and complex cyclizations, including the imidazolinone fluorophore found in the fluorescent proteins.

Symyx Direct 7.0 offers a new, hybrid representation that combines the best features of bioinformatics and cheminformatics notations, improving multidisciplinary collaborative research by enabling scientists to:

• Register and retrieve molecules, reactions, and biomolecular sequences including peptides, oligonucleotides, and oligosaccharides
• Search for and view chemical modifications in sequences
• Develop structure-activity correlations in sequences

Used by more than 80 percent of life sciences organizations worldwide, the Symyx Direct data cartridge offers proven performance with databases containing more than 30 million structures and more than 17 million reactions.