Evogene – Using Technology to Improve Human Health
Evogene is a well known computational biology venture based in Israel. Evogene Ltd. was founded in 2005 by Yair Zilber, Oded Mahajan and Hagai Carmella. Evogene’s core business is in the field of drug discovery, but they also provide tools and resources for other industries. Evogene has developed a powerful computational predictive genetics “CPB” system, which leverages large data with complex mathematical algorithms for personalized drug therapies.
Most of Evogene’s product lines are based on microbial systems. The company has created products based on Streptococcus salivarius, an ordinary strain of bacteria that is used in the diagnosis of strep throat. Other applications include the study of the genetic architecture of microbes and the study of the effect of antibiotic interventions on various microbes. Their product portfolio also includes the development of genetic engineering systems for the production of genetically engineered microbes. The company holds more than 70 patent titles and over forty of its product applications are patented.
To develop their innovative solutions for complex problems in the human health and medical field, Evogene researchers require a robust computing infrastructure capable of supporting their massive data set. This was one of the reasons why they formed a partnership with chip and software giant, Intel. By joining forces, the two companies were able to accelerate the pace of scientific research in the field of computational biology. The new collaboration also raised the profile of Evogene and attracted additional partners, most notably IBM, with whom they could draw on for running their deep understanding computing solutions. In addition, Evogene has signed several agreements with various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, providing them access to data and tools from the deep understanding platform Evogene operates.
The founder and executive chairman of Evogene, Dr. Menahem Golan, is a former chief information officer and systems engineer at IBM and has over 25 years of industry experience. Dr. Golan has been an important contributor to the development of Evogene’s highly scalable and easy to use molecular imaging software. He is a technical expert in the areas of systems architecture, software systems, hardware optimization and virtualization, as well as a key contributor to the research and development team. The ceo of Evogene, Dr. Samir Melki, is also a senior scientific consultant with a decade of experience in the fields of analytical chemistry and systems biology. He has served as an invited speaker at numerous conferences and he has received numerous honors and awards for his contributions to the field of computational predictive biology.
In the field of computational biology, Evogene has played an important role as a technology company. The company’s primary product is the Evogene Color Viewer software, which is used to remotely visualize and monitor an individual cell’s membrane appearance. It is capable of determining the differences in thousands of color spaces, and is particularly useful for taxonomic analysis. The software is being used in multiple areas of biology and is making it possible to visualize entire trees of life or to view cell functions at different time scales. The company is currently working on a software tool for the whole organism that will enable easy monitoring and analysis of gene functions.
Evogene is not the only company joining evogene technology and there are several others. To date, seven other companies have joined the exciting new era of life science product development. Each of these brings a unique perspective to evogene products and will make the job of clinching a successful agreement more effective for all involved. While this technology is still relatively new, having one of your own might be just what you need to help you improve the quality of your patient’s healthcare.