Canon of Tokyo has received US Patent No. 8,025,853, "Biochemical processing apparatus." The apparatus includes a stage for receiving a biochemical reaction cartridge. The device also contains chambers and flow paths, a system for moving liquid via the flow paths, and a detector for identifying the presence of the liquid in a chamber or the amount of the liquid.
Canon has also received US Patent No. 8,029,609, "Ejection liquid, ejection device, ejection cartridge, and method of making droplets from liquid." The inkjet method relies on thermal energy to discharge a liquid containing proteins and peptides. According to the patent, at least one compound having a guanidine group is added to an aqueous solution of at least one of proteins and peptides to improve its ejection capability.
Affymetrix of Santa Clara, Calif., has received US Patent No. 8,026,057, "Nucleic acid labeling compounds." The patent provides compounds containing a detectable moiety. It also provides methods of making these compounds and attaching them to a nucleic acid. The compounds can be used in the monitoring of gene expression and the detection and screening of mutations and polymorphisms.
Affymetrix has also received US Patent No. 8,029,997, "Methods of analysis of allelic imbalance." Methods are provided for the identification of genes that are imprinted, as well as for the identification and analysis of genes whose expression shows allelic imbalance. The expression products transcribed from genes that are present in the genome as two or more alleles may be distinguished by hybridization to an array designed to interrogate individual alleles. Genes whose transcription products are present in amounts that vary from expected are candidates for allelic imbalance, imprinting, and imprinting errors.
Affymetrix has also received US Patent No. 8,029,999, "Complexity management of genomic DNA." Methods for analyzing a collection of target sequences in a nucleic acid sample are claimed. The sample is amplified under conditions that enrich for a subset of fragments that includes a collection of target sequences. The patent also describes a way to analyze the sample by hybridization to an array that may be specifically designed to interrogate the collection of target sequences for particular characteristics, such as, for example, the presence or absence of one or more polymorphisms.
Metamorphix of Beltsville, Md., and Cargill of Wayzata, Minn., have received US Patent No. 8,026,064, "Compositions, methods and systems for inferring bovine breed." Methods of using SNPs for identifying breed, or line and breed, or line composition of a bovine subject are claimed. Specific nucleic acid sequences, SNPs, and SNP patterns that can be used for identifying breed or breed combinations for Angus, Holstein, Limousin, Brahman, Hereford, Simmental, Gelbvieh, Charolais, and Beefmaster breeds are also claimed. The SNP patterns can be used to manage animals in a feedlot to obtain optimum performance based on known characteristics of specific breeds and identify animals for breeding in selection programs. In another aspect, the patterns can be used to ensure labeling on breed-specific branded products.
Fabrico Technology of Austin, Tex., has received US Patent No. 8,026,071, "Systems and methods for detecting target analytes." The method includes contacting the target substance with a substrate that contains a first receptor. The target substance binds to the first receptor. A second, biotinylated receptor associated with the target substance is also contacted. The method also includes contacting an anti-biotin antibody conjugated paramagnetic particle with the substrate.
Acea Biosciences of San Diego has received US Patent No. 8,026,080, "Real time electronic cell sensing system and applications for cell-based assays." Cell-substrate impedance monitoring devices made up of electrode arrays on a nonconducting substrate are claimed, where each of the arrays has an approximately uniform electrode resistance across the entire array. Cellular assays that use impedance monitoring to detect changes in cell behavior or state are also claimed. According to the patent, the assays are designed to investigate the effects of compounds on cells, such as cytotoxicity assays.
Roche NimbleGen of Madison, Wis., has received US Patent No. 8,026,094, "Microarray synthesis instrument and method." During the illumination period of a monomer-addition cycle in synthesizing a DNA microarray, undesirable reflections may reduce the light-dark contrast and negatively affect the precision and resolution of the microarray synthesis, according to the inventors. This patent provides a flow cell that reduces the undesired reflections by constructing certain flow cell structures with materials that have similar refractive indexes as that of the solution that is in the oligomer synthesis chamber during the illumination period.
Roche NimbleGen has also received US Patent No. 8,030,056, "Substrate patterning using a digital optical chemistry micromirror imager." An apparatus for catalyzing a reaction on a substrate is claimed. It includes a light source, a micromirror positioned to redirect light from the light source toward a substrate, where the redirected light catalyzes a chemical reaction. A computer is also claimed that connects to and controls the positioning of mirrors within the micromirror to specifically redirect light to specific portions of a substrate. The substrate can be placed in a reaction chamber, where the light that is redirected by the micromirror catalyzes a chemical reaction.
Zbigniew Lesnikowski and Agnieszka Olejniczak of Lodz, Poland, have received US Patent No. 8,026,348, "Nucleoside derivative, modified oligonucleotide, method for their synthesis and applications thereof." Methods of preparing carboranes and metallacarboranes, both of which can be used as electrochemically active labels for biological compounds, are disclosed. Nucleic acid derivatives labeled with carborane or metallacarborane can be detected by electrochemical methods and can find several practical applications, such as materials for nanoconstruction, in DNA array technology or for the construction of biosensors, especially electrochemical biosensors, according to the inventors.
Agilent Technologies of Santa Clara, Calif., has received US Patent No. 8,027,823, "Methods and system for viewing genomic data." A computer-implemented method for viewing experimental data is provided. The method includes inputting genomic array data and cytogenetic data into a computer memory; and producing a graphical user interface made up of a chromosomal map of the genomic array data.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has received US Patent No. 8,029,745, "Systems for filling a sample array by droplet dragging." A system for filling a platen having a platen surface and an array of receptacles is claimed, where the receptacles have an internal surface and the receptacles are separated by the platen surface. The system includes a liquid transfer device capable of holding liquid, and a controller configured to position the liquid transfer device in proximity to the platen surface. The controller moves the liquid transfer device across the surface and over the receptacles to be filled so as to cause sequential communication of liquid in the liquid transfer device with the interior surface of each receptacle.
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation of Madison has received US Patent No. 8,029,902, "Plasma-enhanced functionalization of substrate surfaces with quaternary ammonium and quaternary phosphonium groups." Bactericidal substrates and methods of functionalizing the surface of substrates with quaternary ammonium and quaternary phosphonium groups using non-equilibrium RF plasmas are provided. The methods include the step of treating the surface of a substrate with a plasma to create surface active sites. Some methods include the step of reacting the surface active sites with linker molecules, which are then reacted with quaternary ammonium precursor molecules to provide a substrate surface functionalized with quaternary ammonium precursor groups. Other methods react the surface active sites with polymer precursor molecules under plasma conditions to form a covalently bound polymer layer having reactive sites. The polymer reactive sites are reacted with quaternary phosphonium precursor molecules to provide a substrate surface functionalized with quaternary phosphonium groups. Also provided are bactericidal substrates having immobilized, covalently bound quaternary ammonium or quaternary phosphonium groups.
JPT Peptide Technologies of Berlin has received US Patent No. 8,029,979, "Method for determining the substrate specificity of an enzyme." A method for determining the substrate specificity of an enzymatic activity is claimed. It includes providing amino acid sequences on a planar surface of a support material, where the amino acids are directionally immobilized; contacting or incubating an enzymatic activity with the assembly; and detecting a reaction between one of the amino acid sequences that are immobilized on the assembly and the enzymatic activity. During the reaction of the enzymatic activity with the assembly, a change in the molecular weight of at least one of the amino acid sequences takes place.
Koken of Tokyo has received US Patent No. 8,029,990, "Cell transfection array for introduction of nucleic acid." A method of introducing and expressing nucleic acid into cells is claimed, where the method is accomplished by adding the nucleic acid onto a plate and then seeding the cells and culturing them without adding a nucleic acid-introducing reagent or additives. According to the patent, the array contains atelocollagen, a gene-introducing agent, and nucleic acid.
Tufts University of Medford, Mass., has received US Patent No. 8,030,094, "Self-encoding sensor with microspheres." A microsphere-based analytic chemistry system is described in which self-encoding microspheres having distinct optical response signatures to specific target analytes may be mixed together while the ability is retained to identify the sensor type and location of each sensor in a random dispersion of large numbers of such sensors in a sensor array using an optically interrogatable encoding scheme. An optical fiber bundle sensor is also disclosed in which individual microsphere sensors are disposed in microwells at a distal end of the fiber bundle and are optically coupled to discrete fibers or groups of fibers within the bundle. The identities of the individual sensors in the array are self-encoded by exposing the array to a reference analyte while illuminating the array with excitation light energy. A single sensor array may carry thousands of discrete sensing elements whose combined signal provides for substantial improvements in sensor detection limits, response times, and signal-to-noise ratios, according to the inventors.
Panasonic of Osaka, Japan, has received US Patent No. 8,031,578, "Microarray with actuators inside and outside of light-irradiated region, and optical head device and optical information device incorporating the same." A two-dimensional array of actuators is claimed, where each actuator has a base; a movable section capable of displacement relative to the base; an elastic supporting member for supporting the movable section; and a stationary electrode portion formed on the base so as to oppose the movable section. At least one of the actuators in the microarray disposed in a light-irradiated region includes an optical modulation section having a light reflecting surface for reflecting light on the movable section, and at least one of the actuators on the surface of the microarray disposed outside the light-irradiated region includes a detection section for detecting a physical condition from an amount of displacement between the movable section and the stationary electrode portion.