TaconicArtemis GmbH

taconic.com

TaconicArtemis GmbH is a privately held genetics and functional genomics company. Artemis, working closely with Exelixis, was founded in June 1998 by Dr. Stadler and the scientific founders: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Professor at the Max-Planck Institute in Tübingen, and Klaus Rajewsky, Professor and Director of the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne. Professor Rajewsky is one of the world's leading scientists in the field of immunology and mice genetics. Professor Nüsslein-Volhard won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1995 for her pioneering work in the use of Drosophila genetics. Artemis' approach is focused on target validation in both zebrafish and mice, systems that will substantially enhance the drug discovery efforts at Exelixis. The degree of conservation between zebrafish and humans is very high. There are several significant advantages to the company's zebrafish technology. Zebrafish are a transparent species of vertebrate that develop externally. They quickly change from egg to embryo within 24 hours and because they are transparent, the development cycle can be followed under a microscope. Fish embryos develop bone and cartilage and quickly form blood vessels and beating hearts. Thus, this organism can be used to study human disease states involving bone formation or degeneration (osteoporosis and osteoarthritis for example) and angiogenesis (heart disease and cancer).