TORONTO--TM Bioscience, which has developed five proprietary DNA product platforms--biochips, therapeutics, diagnostics, gene expression, and genomic analysis--signed a collaborative agreement with a manufacturer of biochips coving the application of TM's normalization of hybridization technology to biochips. TM's platforms are based on its discovery of a second encoding in DNA that governs DNA interactions within itself and with other molecules. Applied to biochips, the company's normalization technology provides that all sequences of DNA, independent of "GC" content, hybridize to a probe array with equal efficiency, thereby improving the quality of biochip output data.
Under the terms of the agreement, during an initial proof-of-concept stage TM must demonstrate the efficacy of its normalization technology to the satisfaction of the manufacturer, after which the agreement provides for payment to TM of fees and milestones up to $1 million, and for payments of royalties.