Gen-Probe (Hologic) has been awarded US Patent No. 8,275,556, "Method of quantifying polynucleotides using a stored calibration curve."
James Carrick is named as inventor on the patent.
Describes a method for quantifying analyte polynucleotide in a test sample using real-time amplification and adjustment of a stored calibration curve. The method may be practiced using as few as a single adjustment calibrator to adjust the stored curve. This simplifies the quantitative analysis procedure, while still providing the advantages of internal calibration adjustment to account for variation in amplification reaction efficiency.
Caliper Life Sciences (PerkinElmer) has been awarded US Patent No. 8,275,554, "System for differentiating the lengths of nucleic acids of interest in a sample."
Michael Knapp, Jill Baker, Andrea Chow, Anne Kopf-Sill, and Michael Spaid are named as inventors on the patent.
Provides systems for differentiating the lengths of nucleic acids of interest. The system includes a microfluidic device, a detector, and a software system. The microfluidic device includes an amplification microchannel or microchamber containing a reaction mixture under conditions that provide one or more amplicons of the nucleic acid of interest. The detector is integral with or proximal to the microfluidic device and is configured to detect the amplicons as one or more signals from a homogenous mixture. The software system interprets one or more coincidentally detected signals to indicate lengths of one or more individual nucleic acid molecules of interest, thereby differentiating the lengths of the nucleic acids of interest.
Samsung Electronics has been awarded US Patent No. 8,273,310, "Centrifugal force-based microfluidic device for nucleic acid extraction and microfluidic system including the microfluidic device."
Yoon-kyoung Cho, Jeong-gun Lee, Beom-seok Lee, and Jong-myeon Park are named as inventors on the patent.
Describes a centrifugal force-based microfluidic device for nucleic acid extraction and a microfluidic system. The microfluidic device includes a body of revolution; a microfluidic structure disposed in the body of revolution and including a plurality of chambers; channels connecting the chambers; and valves disposed in the channels to control fluid flow such that the microfluidic structure transmitting the fluid uses centrifugal force due to rotation of the body of revolution. The device also includes magnetic beads in one of the chambers that collect a target material from a biomaterial sample flowing into the chamber. The microfluidic structure then washes the magnetic beads that collect the target material, and separates nucleic acid by electromagnetic wave irradiation from an external energy source.
The microfluidic system includes the microfluidic device; a rotation operating unit that rotates the body of revolution; and an external energy source that irradiates electromagnetic waves.
HandyLab (Becton Dickinson) has been awarded US Patent No. 8,273,308, "Moving microdroplets in a microfluidic device."
Kalyan Handique and Gene Parunak are named as inventors on the patent.
Provides systems, methods, and devices for processing samples on a microfluidic device. One system includes a microfluidic device having an upstream channel; a DNA-manipulation zone located downstream from the upstream channel and configured to perform PCR amplification of a sample; a first valve disposed upstream of the DNA-manipulation zone; and a second valve disposed downstream of the DNA-manipulation zone. The system also includes a controller programmed to close the first and second valves to prevent gas and liquid from flowing into or out of the DNA-manipulation zone, and a computer-controlled heat source in thermal contact with the DNA-manipulation zone.
Intel has been awarded US Patent No. 8,273,242, "Nanofabricated structures for electric field-assisted nucleic acid extraction."
Steven Sundberg, Xing Su, and Grace Credo are named as inventors on the patent.
Provides devices and methods for extracting nucleic acid molecules from solution using electric fields. The structures and methods are suited to incorporation into micro- and nanofluidic devices, such as lab-on-a-chip devices and micro total analysis systems.