Osmetech of Pasadena, Calif., has received US Patent No. 7,655,129, "Binding acceleration techniques for the detection of analytes." The patent claims methods for accelerating the binding of target analytes to capture ligands on surfaces. Detection proceeds through the use of an electron transfer moiety that is associated with the target analyte, either directly or indirectly, to allow electronic detection of the electron transfer moiety, according to the patent.
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore has received US Patent No. 7,655,404, "Method and device for detection of nucleic acids and/or polypeptides." The patent claims a method for the detection or quantification of a nucleic acid or target polypeptide in a sample by: a) providing a sample containing nucleic acids or polypeptides; b) labeling the nucleic acids or polypeptides with a ligand conjugate; c) contacting the nucleic acid-ligand conjugates or polypeptide-ligand conjugates with a capture probe; d) adding an oxidoreductase enzyme; e) adding a redox polymer; and f) detecting and quantifying the presence of the target nucleic acids or target polypeptides.
Ciencia of East Hartford, Conn., has received US Patent No. 7,655,421, "Cytometer on a chip." The patent claims an assay technique for label-free, highly parallel, qualitative and quantitative detection of specific cell populations in a sample and for assessing cell functional status, cell-cell interactions, and cellular responses to drugs, environmental toxins, bacteria, viruses, and other factors that may affect cell function. The technique includes a) creating an array of binding regions in a predetermined spatial pattern on a sensor surface capable of specifically binding the cells to be assayed; b) creating a second set of binding regions in specific spatial patterns relative to the first set designed to capture products from cells captured on the first set of binding regions; c) contacting the sensor surface with the sample; and d) monitoring the optical properties of all the binding regions of the sensor surface to determine the presence and concentration of specific cell populations in the sample and their functional status by detecting released or secreted bioproducts.
Rubicon Genomics of Ann Arbor, Mich., has received US Patent No. 7,655,791, "DNA amplification and sequencing using DNA molecules generated by random fragmentation." The patent describes methods to prepare DNA molecules by random fragmentation as well as preparing a template for DNA sequencing by random fragmentation. The random fragmentation can include chemical fragmentation, mechanical fragmentation, or enzymatic fragmentation. A universal sequence can also be attached to the 3' end of the DNA fragments, such as by ligation of an adaptor sequence or by homopolymeric tailing with terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase during the creation of a library, according to the patent.
Samsung Electronics has received US Patent No. 7,657,381, "Method of designing probe set, microarray having substrate on which probe designed by the method is immobilized, and computer readable medium on which program for executing the method is recorded." The patent claims a method of designing a probe set for identifying a target sequence from a plurality of target sequence groups by a hybridization reaction. The method includes: a) selecting a first target sequence group including target sequences; b) selecting oligonucleotides specifically binding to the target sequences from the first target sequence group as a probe; c) target sequences having no specifically binding probe from the first target sequence group as a second target sequence group; d) selecting oligonucleotides specifically binding to the target sequences from the second target sequence group as a probe, where the operations in steps c) and d) are repeated until a target sequence with no specifically binding probe is absent in the second target sequence group.