The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research has been awarded US Patent No. 8,362,227, "Detection of Clostridium difficile."
Franklin Cockerill, Thomas Smith, Jon Rosenblatt, and Lynne Sloan are named as inventors.
Provides methods and primers and probes to detect C. difficile in biological samples using real-time PCR. The patent also provides articles of manufacture containing such primers and probes.
Applied Biosystems (Life Technologies) has been awarded US Patent No. 8,361,785, "Optical instrument comprising multi-notch beam splitter."
Mark Oldham and Eugene Young are named as inventors.
Describes an instrument that can monitor nucleic acid sequence amplification reactions, for example PCR amplification of DNA and DNA fragments. The instrument includes a multi-notch filter disposed along one or both of an excitation beam path and an emission beam path. The patent also provides methods to monitor nucleic acid sequence amplifications using such an instrument.
TriLink Biotechnologies has been awarded US Patent No. 8,361,753, "Phosphotriester-modified oligonucleotide primers for nucleic acid amplification."
Gerald Zon and Alexandre Lebedev are named as inventors.
Provides methods and compositions for nucleic acid amplification. These methods involve the use of oligonucleotide primers in temperature-dependent nucleic acid amplification reactions. In certain aspects, the methods are accomplished by using certain modified oligonucleotide primers that provide utility in nucleic acid amplification. In preferred embodiments, the oligonucleotide primers are modified with particular chemical groups such as esters.
The Penn State Research Foundation has been awarded US Patent No. 8,361,726, "Method of detecting tumor-associated DNA in plasma or serum with a premalignant solid tumor."
Christopher Gocke and Michael Kopreski are named as inventors.
Relates to the detection of specific extracellular nucleic acid in plasma or serum fractions of human or animal blood associated with neoplastic or proliferative disease. More specifically, the invention relates to the detection of nucleic acid derived from mutant oncogenes or other tumor-associated DNA, and the detection and monitoring of extracellular mutant oncogenes or tumor-associated DNA found in the plasma or serum fraction of blood by using rapid DNA extraction followed by nucleic acid amplification with or without enrichment for mutant DNA.
In particular, the invention relates to the detection, identification, or monitoring of the existence, progression or clinical status of benign, premalignant, or malignant neoplasms in humans or other animals that contain a mutation that is associated with the neoplasm, through detection of the mutated nucleic acid of the neoplasm in plasma or serum fractions. The invention thereby provides methods for early identification of colorectal, pancreatic, lung, breast, bladder, ovarian, lymphoma and all other malignancies carrying tumor-related mutations of DNA and methods for monitoring cancer and other neoplastic disorders in humans and other animals.
The Penn State Research Foundation has also been awarded US Patent No. 8,361,718, "Methods for nucleic acid amplification."
Stephen Benkovic and Frank Salinas are named as inventors.
Provides a method for replicating and amplifying a target nucleic acid sequence. A method of the invention involves forming a recombination intermediate without the prior denaturing of a nucleic acid duplex through the use of a recombination factor. The recombination intermediate is treated with a high-fidelity polymerase to permit the replication and amplification of the target nucleic acid sequence. In preferred embodiments, the polymerase comprises a polymerase holoenzyme. In further preferred embodiments, the recombination factor is bacteriophage T4 UvsX protein or homologs from other species, and the polymerase holoenzyme comprises a polymerase enzyme, a clamp protein, and a clamp loader protein derived from viral, bacteriophage, prokaryotic, archaebacterial, or eukaryotic systems.
Exact Sciences has been awarded US Patent No. 8,361,720, "Real-time cleavage assay."
Rebecca Oldham-Haltom, Hongzhi Zou, Graham Lidgard, Michael Domanico, and Hatim Allawi are named as inventors.
Describes a cleavage-based real-time PCR assay method. In general terms, the assay method uses a reaction mixture comprising PCR reagents for amplifying a nucleic acid target, and flap cleavage reagents for performing a flap cleavage assay on the amplified nucleic acid target. The method involves subjecting said mixture to two sets of thermocycling conditions. No additional reagents are added to the reaction between said first and second sets of cycles and, in each cycle of the second set of cycles, cleavage of a flap probe is measured.
General Electric has been awarded US Patent No. 8,361,712, "Contamination-free reagents for nucleic acid amplification."
John Nelson, Robert Duthie, and Andrew Grossmann are named as inventors.
Provides methods and kits for generating contamination-free reagents and reagent solutions for use in nucleic acid amplification. Methods include processing of polymerase solutions, nucleotide solutions, and primer solutions to render contaminating nucleic acid inert. The methods employ the proofreading activity of the polymerase and/or exonucleases to decontaminate the reagents and reagent solutions. The patent also provides methods and kits for contamination-free nucleic acid amplification.