NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Maven Biotechnologies announced it has received a $1.96 million grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease to support commercialization of its technology for label-free protein microarrays and cell-based assays.
The grant was awarded through the federal stimulus package initiative for Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies. Maven, based in Pasadena, Calif., will use the funds to create a product portfolio based on its Label Free Internal Reflection Ellipsometry, or LFIRE, technology.
LFIRE is a label-free, high-throughput, and high-density analysis system for microplates and slide disposables, according to the company's website, and allows for the quantitative measurement of molecular binding in real time on microarrays spotted in wells or slides.
The initial instrument based on the technology will be a desktop microplate reader, with "alpha" evaluation units expected to be finished and made available for use by academic collaborators and strategic industry partners in the first quarter of 2011, Maven said in a statement.
In addition to instruments, consumables will also be developed based on LFIRE.
Target applications for the technology include immunoassay in the research and diagnostic markets, cell-based studies, high-throughput pharmaceuticals screening, and established label-free applications in biomolecular interaction analysis.