The group's principal activity is to provide genomic information and bioinformatics related to gene activity in human disease and toxicity. this information enables global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences and diagnostic companies to reduce the time, risk and cost involved in developing drugs against human disease. the products of the group include the geneexpress suite of databases and custom, proprietary gene expression databases focused on single disease indications. the geneexpress suite of database is used for a variety of applications, including the discovery and validation of novel drug targets, prioritization of therapeutic compounds, in silico prediction of safety and efficiency of new molecular entities and facilitation of clinical trials and patient management. during 2001, the group completed a spin-off of its patented flow-thru chip tm technology to a newly created subsidiary, metrigenix.