Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Seahorse Licenses IP for Cellular Bioenergetics Research

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.

The Scan

Cell Signaling Pathway Identified as Metastasis Suppressor

A new study in Nature homes in on the STING pathway as a suppressor of metastasis in a mouse model of lung cancer.

Using Bees to Gain Insights into Urban Microbiomes

As bees buzz around, they pick up debris that provides insight into the metagenome of their surroundings, researchers report in Environmental Microbiome.

Age, Genetic Risk Tied to Blood Lipid Changes in New Study

A study appearing in JAMA Network Open suggests strategies to address high lipid levels should focus on individuals with high genetic risk and at specific ages.

Study Examines Insights Gained by Adjunct Trio RNA Sequencing in Complex Pediatric Disease Cases

Researchers in AJHG explore the diagnostic utility of adding parent-child RNA-seq to genome sequencing in dozens of families with complex, undiagnosed genetic disease.