Imgenex Corp. develops and commercializes novel reagents for the scientific study of human biology and disease and for the production of new diagnostic assays and potential therapies of such diseases. These novel reagents include antibodies, gene and protein expression systems, and arrays of various cells and tissues for use in studies of functional genomics. Areas of biological interest at IMGENEX include cancer, apoptosis (programmed cell death), molecular signaling pathways, cellular aging, and metabolic and infectious diseases.

Telomeric DNA comprises multiple hexameric TTAGGG repeat sequences found at the ends of chromosomes where it acts as protective caps to prevent the loss of coding genomic sequences. In normal somatic cells the telomere length is progressively reduced with each round of cell division. The cells are thought to initiate replicative senescence when a critically shortened telomere length is reached. Immortal and germline cells are able to replenish the continuous telomere loss through activation of the ribonucleoprotein enzyme telomerase thus resulting in the infinite maintenance of stable telomere length. Recent studies have shown that other telomere-associated proteins also regulate the telomere length or function. These include TTAGGG repeat binding factor 1 (TRF1), TTAGGG repeat binding factor (TRF2) and tankyrase. TRF1 is a ubiquitously expressed protein that is related to the proto-oncogene Myb. TRF1 binds specifically to double stranded telomeric repeats at the end of chromosomes where it is located throughout the cell cycle. TRF1 is thought to act as an inhibitor of telomere maintenance.