Jivan Biologics

SpliceExpress™ technology benefited from two grants from the National Institute of Health as well as several corporate and academic research collaborations.

Since 2001, Jivan has designed custom splice variant arrays as a service. In 2003, Jivan offered its first catalogue microarray for alternative splicing, SpliceExpress™ Phosphodiesterase.

Expression profile from SpliceExpress™ Phosphodiesterase. The probes J1-2 and J1-3 indicate two splice isoforms of PDE7A with different 5′ exons. Tissue-specificity in heart and skeletal muscle confirms published results.

(Left) Heat map of extracted features from SpliceExpress™ CYP450.
(Right) Scatter plot of liver tumor vs. liver normal.

From Genome to Spliceome:

RNA transcript diversity is generated by expression of different genetic loci and by splicing. By detecting specific splice isoforms, SpliceExpress™ arrays enable researchers to look at both of these aspects quantitatively. RNA splicing multiplies the number of potential biomarkers, diagnostics and targets compared to conventional gene arrays.

The majority of human genes are alternatively spliced, meaning that they encode multiple RNA and protein products, or splice isoforms. Splice isoforms of the same gene often have different, and even opposite, functions. Increasingly researchers are focusing on specific splice isoforms rather than mere genes in their efforts to understand the mechanisms behind disease.

There is a growing body of research that shows splice isoforms are:

• tissue-specific
• disease-specific
• population-specific
• specific to individuals
• related to drug response

With SpliceExpress™ microarrays for alternative splicing, Jivan’s customers can interrogate alternative splicing in vitro on a massive scale.