ParAllele BioScience announces key patent issuance

Mar 21 2005

ParAllele BioScience has announced the issuance by the U.S. Patent Office of a key patent (6,858,412) covering its Molecular Inversion Probe (MIP) technology. The patent is owned by Stanford University and is exclusively licensed to ParAllele.

The patent protects detection of genetic sequences by formation circularized probes that are subsequently linearized and amplified for detection. An extremely high level of multiplexing is achieved by labeling each probe with a unique molecular tag that may be read by hybridization to a microarray, or other readout platform.

"The issued claims broaden protection of our fundamental MIP technology used in our MegAllele genotyping system," said Tom Willis, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and a founder of ParAllele "The beauty of the MIP technology is its tremendous flexibility. By the use of a microarry based readout, it can be scaled to accommodate extremely large genotyping projects, while maintaining high levels of sensitivity and selectivity. In the near future, the MIP technology may also be used to measure other genetic and epigenetic phenomena, such as allele quantitation, loss of heterozygosity, genomic copy number changes, and DNA methylation, all of which are being intensely studied as potential biomarkers for key human diseases, particularly cancer."

"We are fortunate to have Dr Willis and four of the other inventors on this patent actively involved in its continued development and commercialization at ParAllele," added Dr. Nick Naclerio, President and Chief Executive Officer of ParAllele. "Recognition of the originality of these inventions and their protection will assist us in promoting our MegAllele platform as an industry standard."

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