Eppendorf said this week that it has licensed patents covering gradient technology for thermal cyclers to Takara Bio.
The licensed patents include US Nos. 6,767,512 and 7,074,367, which cover thermal gradient block technology that Eppendorf uses in its Mastercycler Pro Gradient, Mastercycler Gradient, and Mastercycler EP RealPlex thermal cyclers.
The thermal gradient block technology describes a thermostated block that is in contact with wells containing sample vials and generates different temperatures at different sites of the block.
Such temperature-gradient technology is commonly used in thermal cyclers containing a plurality of wells in order to optimize the temperature of a PCR reaction in different areas of a well plate.
Takara markets the Takara PCR Thermal Cycler Dice, which uses the thermal gradient technology and allows up to a 20° C temperature slope between the right and left sides of a sample block in each temperature setting step, according to Takara's website.
In the past year, Eppendorf has licensed its thermal gradient patents to Bulldog Bio (PCR Insider, 9/8/11); and to Roche and Labnet (PCR Insider, 4/7/2011).