Her father retired as the managing partner of the Sprout Group, a venture capital and investment management firm in New York.

He is a general partner of the Sprout Group, a venture capital firm affiliated with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

"This is much, much more challenging than Hybritech was," said Mr. Curry of the Sprout Group, a venture capital firm and an investor in Nanogen.

The rest will come from the Sprout Group, one of the nation's oldest and largest venture capital firms.

Venture capital firms like Warburg Pincus and the Sprout Group, a division of Credit Suisse First Boston, have found it a promising business opportunity.

Ms. Sinek is an associate with the Sprout Group in New York, the venture capital affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

That same year, the Sprout Group and Frazier Healthcare Ventures of Seattle purchased major interests in the company.

His father is the managing partner in the Sprout Group, a venture capital affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the investment bank in New York.

Janet Hickey, a general partner of the Sprout Group, said she rated Edison's first year overall an "8 or 9" on a scale of 10.

A coalition of venture capitalists led by the Sprout Group, Venrock Associates and Oxford Bioscience Partners invested $48 million.