Recent Patents in Bioinformatics, September — October 2011
US Patent 8,036,867. Method and apparatus for analysis of molecular configurations and combinations. Inventors: Adityo Prakash, David Kita, Eniko Fodor. Assignee: Verseon
Describes a computational method for performing molecular docking calculations in parallel that could be used to simulate and/or estimate the likelihoods of molecular interactions. The method can be applied to determine whether a biomolecule is a lead candidate.
US Patent 8,032,347. Methods and apparatus for protein sequence analysis. Inventors: Neil E. Reiner, Artem Tcherkassov, Devki Nandan. Assignee: The University of British Columbia
Describes a method for performing protein sequence analysis based on protein sequence alignment and the identification of insertions and deletions.
US Patent 8,032,310. Computer-implemented method, computer readable storage medium, and apparatus for identification of a biological sequence. Inventors: David A. Stenger, Jennifer Thornton
Describes a computer-implemented biological sequence identifier system and method for selecting sequences that requires at least one selection parameter that "corresponds to a likelihood of returning a meaningful result from a similarity search."
US Patent 8,031,925. Method and computer-program product for detecting and quantifying protein spots. Inventors: Jeffrey S. Morris, Howard Gutstein. Assignee: University of Texas System
Describes a computerized method for detecting and quantifying protein spots. It involves generating an average gel image; detecting spots on the image using pinnacle detection; and then "quantifying the spots using the maximum intensity within fixed neighborhoods surrounding pinnacle locations found in the image."
US Patent 8,027,823. Method and system for viewing genomic data. Inventors: Michael T. Barrett, Michael P. Caren. Assignee: Agilent Technologies
Describes a computerized method for viewing experimental data that accepts as input genomic array and cytogenic data and represents them as maps.
US Patent 8,024,128. System and method for improving clinical decisions by aggregating, validating and analysing genetic and phenotypic data. Inventors: Matthew Rabinowitz, Wayne Chambliss, John Croswell, Miro Sarbaev, Milena Banjevic. Assignee: Gene Security Network
Describes a system that enables the integration, validation, and analysis of genetic, phenotypic, and clinical data. In the method, patient data is converted into data classes — patient profile, genetic, symptomatic, treatment, and diagnostics information — using a data parser. It defines relationships between these classes based on expert rules and statistical models. These relationships are used to validate new data and predict phenotypic outcomes.