Eppendorf said today that it has licensed patents covering gradient technology for thermal cyclers to Peqlab Biotechnologie.
The license includes US Patent No. 6,767,512, entitled "Temperature-regulating block with temperature-regulating devices;" and No. 7.074,367, entitled "Thermostated block with heat-regulating devices."
Hamburg, Germany-based Eppendorf uses the technology in its Eppendorf Mastercycler Pro Gradient, Mastercycler Nexus Gradient, and Mastercycler EP Realplex models; but has also licensed the technology to a slew of other life science companies for use in their thermal cyclers. These licnesees include Agilent, Roche, Takara Bio, Analytik Jena, Bulldog Bio, Labnet, and Bibby Scientific.
Peqlab, based in Erlangen, Germany, manufactures and distributes instruments, reagents, and consumables for life science researchers. Its products include the Primus Thermocycler for personal, benchtop applications; and the peqSTAR family of thermocyclers for higher throughput PCR using interchangeable well blocks.