The RIKEN FANTOM Clone Set is the largest available cDNA collection from any higher organism. With their recent public ation in the September 2nd, 2005, issue of Science Magazine, RIKEN has release over 102,000 full-length sequenced cDNA clones from mouse, which are available for distribution from K.K. DNAFORM. Containing many novel and thus far unstudied transcripts, the RIKE N FANTOM Clone Set is a unique resource to bring the fruits of large-scale genomics studies to the research community, and to open up entirely new directions in life science and medical research.

“We are very excited about the prospect of partnering with Abnova on the production of proteins and antibodies derived fro m RIKEN FANTOM Clones” said Hirohumi Ujita, CEO of DNAFORM, adding that “Abnova can offer unique abilities in protein and anti body production to its customers based on their high throughput protein expression system, and their streamlined monoclonal antib ody production facility with a monthly capacity of up to 500 immunizations. This is the throughput needed to provide the research community fast with the necessary reagents for further functional studies on RIKEN FANTOM Clones.”

Wilber Huang, CEO of Abnova Corporation, pointed out “Abnova has successfully used human MGC clones for protein and antibody produc tion in the last two years, but we had to learn that many interesting proteins are not covered by the MGC clone set. Moreover, many of o ur customers wanted from us reagents to work in mouse. Having access to the unique RIKEN FANTOM Clone Set, Abnova has now the possibility to make unique new proteins and antibodies to serve the research community and to address the needs for studies in mice.”

Notes to editors

About Abnowa. Abnova is the world largest monoclonal antibody manufacturer. We have a capacity of generating 500 mouse monoclonal antib odies per month. Rather than the traditional method of monoclonal antibody production, Abnova is taking a genomic/proteomic approach for the antibody development. Our goal is to have at least one antibody to every human expressed gene in human genome. We manufacture all our p roducts, recombinant proteins and antibodies, in-house in our state-of-art facility in Taiwan. In most cases, we have multiple clones for our monoclonal antibodies, and their access is available to our industrial partners and collaborators from the academic institutions. For more inf ormation please visit http://www.abnova.com.tw/

About DNAFORM. DNAFORM was established as a RIKEN Venture to commercialise technologies for the analysis of complex transcriptomes d eveloped as part of the RIKEN Mouse Encyclopaedia Project. DNAFORM's technology platform is based on the patented RIKEN Full-Length cDNA Cloning Approach, which offers effective means for Transcriptome Analysis along with resources for target gene cloning. Expanding on this platform, novel approaches can be offered for Transcriptome Annotation based on 5'-Tag sequencing (CAGE), and the identification of gene s regulated on the level of Alternative Splicing (ASSETS). In combination with our flexible Library Construction Program, the DNAFORM tech nology platform can support research and development in Proteomics, Gene Regulation, Gene Discovery, RNAi, or SNP Analysis. For the promot ion of science and the easier availability of DNA clones to the research community, DNAFORM developed further together with RIKEN the conc pt of the DNABook™, which brings together clones of interest and the related information in a printed format easy to handle, store and use . For more information please visit http://www.dnaform.jp