They charted changes in the genetic activity in two groups of ageing mice, one group on a standard diet and the other whose diets have been cut to 76% of the standard diet.
After Novartis sorted through 2, 000 proteins in the genomic database, it found five proteins that, when injected into laboratory mice, generated antibodies against at least 66 of 85 group B strains, according to a 2006 study.