PREMIER Biosoft International today announced the world wide release of version 5 of AlleleID®

AlleleID®, which helps design microarrays and real time PCR diagnostic assays for pathogen detection or bacterial identification will now help MLPA® users design custom MLPA® probes.

Palo Alto, California--May 30, 2007, PREMIER Biosoft International today announced the world wide release of version 5 of AlleleID®, the only tool available for designing diagnostic assays for both real time PCR and microarrays. AlleleID® now includes support for designing custom probes for MLPA® assays. AlleleID® will help MLPA® users design custom oligos for genes that do not have kits available.

Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA®) is a method to establish the copy number of up to 45 nucleic acid sequences in a single reaction. MLPA® probes are able to discriminate between sequences that differ by just one nucleotide, making them a highly sensitive and precise tool for detecting the changes. Current efforts are directed towards more comprehensive cataloging and characterization of such changes.

For design support, the company has teamed up with MRC-Holland, the inventors of MLPA® technology. "With this collaboration, both PREMIER Biosoft and MRC-Holland will use their core competencies and expertise to develop a powerful bioinformatics tool for MLPA® users." commented Kay Brown, V.P. Business Development and Marketing.

AlleleID® is a comprehensive desktop tool designed to address the challenges of pathogen detection, bacterial identification or taxa/species discrimination using microarrays and TaqMan® TaqMan® MGB, SYBR® Green and molecular beacon qPCR assays. With ClustalW multiple sequence alignment at its core, AlleleID® can design species specific/cross species probes for microarrays or TaqMan®, TaqMan® MGB, SYBR® Green and molecular beacon qPCR assays.

AlleleID® employs a sophisticated algorithm to assure assay success. Highly specific oligos are designed by avoiding regions of significant homology found by automatically interpreting BLAST search results. The oligos designed can be BLAST searched, to verify their specificity. Primer efficiency is enhanced by automatically avoiding template secondary structures.

For details, please visit: http://www.premierbiosoft.com/bacterial-identification/index.html

About PREMIER Biosoft International:
Founded in 1994, the company is a group of computer scientists and molecular biologists dedicated to producing cutting edge intuitive software for the molecular biologist. The goal of the company is to study the most recent innovations in molecular biology and translate them into software products that aid biologists. Additional information about PREMIER Biosoft International can be found at http://www.premierbiosoft.com

Contact:
Arun Apte
PREMIER Biosoft International
650-856-2703
http://www.premierbiosoft.com