Ocimum Biosolutions, a leading provider of Bioinformatics solutions and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), announced that it has licensed Genchek, comprehensive sequence analysis tool, to University of Washington, University of Virginia, Alcorn State University and Acuity Pharmaceuticals.

Ocimum's CEO, Anuradha Acharya remarked, "We are proud to add these prestigious organizations to our list of clients. Sequence analysis is a cornerstone of modern molecular genetics, yet it is difficult to provide researchers with an experience that is meaningful and cost effective. Our Genchek, a comprehensive, multi-platform, cost-effective, sequence analysis software package is capable of handling and analyzing high throughput biological data. We expect that Genchek will enhance their research work in the field of genetics."

Genchek facilitates analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs), Complete Genome, and SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) data. It is a research information and experiment management tool that integrates public and proprietary data through a discovery workspace that provides contextual access to sequence analysis tools, content and services. It has an integral database system that can be used to access, store, organize and retrieve DNA, RNA, and protein sequences in an intuitive environment that offers editing, management and annotation of sequences.

University of Washington is consistently ranked as one of the top research universities in the US and has more than 25,000 undergraduates and 9,000 others enrolled in its professional and graduate programmes.

Acuity Pharmaceuticals is a product-focused pharmaceutical firm that is a pioneer in commercializing small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics. Acuity is developing treatments for serious diseases of the eye and retina such as age-related wet macular degeneration (wet AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). Acuity's core siRNA technology is licensed from the University of Pennsylvania, and was developed by leading retinal researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute.