NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Link Technologies has licensed diagnostic reagent-related technology from the University of Manchester that it intends to market worldwide, the Scottish company said today.
Under the agreement with the University of Manchester Intellectual Property Limited, the firm acquired the rights to make and sell oligonucleotide reagents using the university's exciplex technology. It also will collaborate with the university to further develop the existing technology.
Link Technologies said the license covers exciplex diagnostic probes based on labeling oligonucleotides with exciplex partners that form excited-state complexes in close spatial proximity. It said that the technology offers increased specificity and detection sensitivity over conventional systems due to a lower signal-to-noise ratio.
Using such modified oligonucleotides in diagnostic systems has been shown to discriminate DNA mutations at the level of PCR products and plasmid DNA, the company said.
"Our ongoing collaboration with the university over the coming months will optimize the technology, allowing Link to launch a new range of innovative products targeted at diagnostic companies worldwide," Link Technologies' Business Development Director John Bremner said in a statement.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.