NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Seahorse Biosciences said recently that it has licensed a patent from the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute covering a method of analyzing the inner mechanics of a cell and how it makes and uses energy.
The IP licensed by Billerica, Mass.-based Seahorse, titled "Methods, compositions and kits for assaying mitochondrial function" relates to a method of creating apertures in the cellular membrane, allowing researchers to investigate the inner mechanics of a cell. Seahorse said that the invention now allows scientists to assess mitochondrial bioenergetics "in an environment that closely mimics real physiological conditions, and eliminates the need for isolating mitochondria from cells."
Nagendra Yadava, the John Adams Investigator at PVLSI, and Alejandro Heuck, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, developed the technology. Seahorse will incorporate it into a new reagent kit for use with the Seahorse XF Extracellular Flux Analyzer for measuring cellular bioenergetics in real time and in a microplate.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.