Fairbanks Institute Selects BioServe for Indiana Health Study of Type 2 Diabetes

BELTSVILLE, MD--(Marketwire - August 26, 2009) - BioServe, a leading provider of clinical bio-samples and research services, today announced that it has been selected by the Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities to process all biological samples for its landmark longitudinal study of type 2 diabetes. This is the second phase of The Indiana Health Study, a community-based research initiative using the population of Central Indiana as study participants to create a research platform that will lead to the development of new drugs and diagnostics for chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. BioServe is currently processing samples for the first study of coronary artery disease that commenced in 2008.

"We initially chose BioServe to process all patient samples for our coronary artery disease study based on the company's excellent reputation, experience and ability to perform the processing under GLP conditions," said Cynthia Helphingstine, PhD, President and CEO, The Fairbanks Institute. "Extending our relationship with BioServe for this important second phase study on type 2 diabetes was an easy decision. BioServe continues to demonstrate their proficiency at processing the many different types of biological materials researchers need to get at the genetic, lifestyle and environmental determinants of chronic disease that will one day result in better ways to prevent and treat disease."

The Fairbanks Institute is on the cutting edge of a growing effort to provide medical researchers with biological samples connected to detailed longitudinal clinical information for many types of research studies. The type 2 diabetes study is enrolling 500 people in Central Indiana with the disease, and 500 people matched by gender, ethnicity and age but without type 2 diabetes or its risk factors, such as elevated BP and abnormal lipid profiles. People enrolled in the study will provide blood, urine and health information (epigenetic, demographic and clinical information) at enrollment and again at the two and five year points. Prospective clinical information on study participants will be obtained through the Indiana Network for Patient Care, a regional health information exchange that connects the five major health systems in Indianapolis, and includes over 100 hospitals, surgery centers and clinics.

Rama Modali, President, BioServe, stated, "We are excited to continue to be working with The Fairbanks Institute to further understanding of the dynamics between chronic diseases, genetic polymorphisms and environmental risk factors that increase the risk of disease."

About Fairbanks Institute

Formed with a $10 million gift from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and the collaboration of BioCrossroads, Indiana University School of Medicine, Regenstrief Institute and other Indianapolis community health leaders, Fairbanks Institute is creating one of the nation's most comprehensive resources for finding better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the nation's most common, chronic diseases. Through the Indiana Health Study, the Fairbanks Institute is assembling and maintaining a collection of biological samples and linked clinical and disease-specific information collected from the population of Indianapolis for academic and commercial research use.

About BioServe

BioServe provides pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical and academic research markets with comprehensive 'biomaterial to validated data' genomic research services that generate pre-clinical data needed for breakthroughs in drug discovery and molecular diagnostics. BioServe's services feature over 600,000 high quality, well-annotated and clinically relevant biological specimens from its Global Repository® and a suite of complimentary CLIA-certified genomic research services. Used together or separately BioServe's genomic services enable biomedical researchers to efficiently conduct genomic and proteomic research, validate drug and diagnostic targets and correlate clinical data with molecular data for the development of improved drugs and diagnostics. BioServe has headquarters in Beltsville, MD and Hyderabad, India. For more information please visit www.bioserve.com or call 301-470-3362.

Contact Information: Contacts: Rama Modali President BioServe 301-470-3362 Rmodali[at]bioserve.com Constantine Theodoropulos BasePair Communications 617-816-4637 Constantine[at]basepaircomm.com