Founded in 1994, Quark devoted its early years to developing its innovative technology platform for identification of novel functional target genes and proteins, the “BiFAR” technology. The basic concept, patented by Quark, of high throughput gene inactivation combined with microarray detection of the functional genes responsible for the occurrence of phenotypes of interest, was at that time revolutionary. With the advent of siRNA technology, Quark's approach is rapidly becoming the technology of choice for functional studies industry-wide. We have applied our BiFAR platform in gene discovery programs in serious diseases with significant unmet medical needs, often in collaboration with large pharmaceutical partners. Today we are harvesting the fruits of the innovative targets and concepts we identified.