Aponetics has received US Patent No. 6,723,567, "Screening method for apoptosis and necrosis." As stated in the abstract, the patent covers a method for determining non-, anti-, or pro-apoptotic and necrotic conditions of cells; newly designed vectors coding for marker proteins, cell lines transfected with such a vector, and a method to assay the non-, pro- or anti-apoptotic or necrotic activity of test compounds.
The University of Connecticut has received US Patent No. 6,723,523, "System and method for investigating the effect of chemical and other factors on cell movement," covering the invention of Michael Lynes and David Knecht. As stated in the abstract, the patent covers a novel system for monitoring cell movement in response to chemotactic and chemokinetic factors. In this system, cells migrate in an under-agarose environment and their position is monitored using a system capable of measuring changes in impedance and other electrical parameters of the system at a target electrode lithographed onto a substrate as the cells arrive at the target. The multi-well configuration of the disclosed assay system, the patent states, allows for simultaneous automated screening of many samples for chemotactic or anti-chemotactic activity.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals has received US Patent No. 6,723,498, "Chk1 and uses thereof." As stated in the abstract, the patent covers methods for identifying drug-resistant cells by measuring the expression or activity of Chk1, methods for identifying modulators of drug resistance, and methods for modulating drug resistance by modulating the expression or activity of Chk1.
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