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IP Watch: Recent Patents Related to PCR, Nucleic Acid Amplification, and Sample Prep: Sep 21, 2011

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Roche Molecular Systems has been awarded US Patent No. 8,024,132, "Method for the efficiency-corrected real-time quantification of nucleic acids."

Gregor Sagner, Karim Tabiti, Martin Gutekunst, and Richie Soong are named as inventors on the patent.

Concerns a method for quantifying a target nucleic acid in a sample, the method comprising the following steps: (1) determining the amplification efficiency of the target nucleic acid under defined amplification conditions; (2) amplifying the target nucleic acid contained in the sample under the same defined reaction conditions; (3) measuring the amplification in real time; and (4) quantifying the original amount of target nucleic acid in the sample by correcting the original amount derived from step (3) with the aid of the determined amplification efficiency. The described method for efficiency correction of PCR reactions can be used for absolute quantification with the aid of an external or internal standard, as well as for relative quantification compared to the expression of housekeeping genes.


Medical Diagnostic Laboratories has been awarded US Patent No. 8,021,846, "Method for determining azole resistance in Candida glabrata."

Scott Gygax, John-Paul Vermitsky, Sean Chadwick, Matthew Self, Eli Mordechai, and Martin Adelson are named as inventors on the patent.

Discloses a method for determining azole resistance in Candida glabrata. In the method, quantitative real-time PCR is used to determine a normalized mRNA level of CDR1 gene from a biological sample containing C. glabrata. A susceptible isolate of C. glabrata is obtained using a microbroth dilution assay conducted at azole concentrations of about 2-8 ug/mL; and a qRT-PCR assay is employed on the susceptible isolate to obtain an average mRNA level of CDR1. A fold-change value for CDR1 is obtained by comparing the CDR1 mRNA level of the biological sample with that of the average mRNA level, and a change in value greater than or equal to two-fold is indicative of azole resistance. The method provides a qRT-PCR assay for azole resistance that has a sensitivity of greater than or equal to 90 percent and a specificity of greater than or equal to 90 percent.


Arkray has been awarded US Patent No. 8,021,845, "Probes for detecting obesity gene."

Mitsuharu Hirai and Satoshi Majima are named as inventors on the patent.

Describes primer sets for amplifying target regions containing sites to be detected in the obesity gene (the β2AR gene, the β3AR gene, and the UCP1 gene) by a gene-amplification method. The primer sets used in the method can amplify the regions specifically. Three pairs of primer sets and reverse primers are used, making it possible to specifically amplify a target region including a site where a polymorphism to be detected is generated in the β2AR gene, the β3AR gene, and the UCP1 gene, in the same reaction solution at the same time, the patent's abstract states.


Seiko Epson has been awarded US Patent No. 8,021,843, "Biological sample reaction chip and biological sample reaction method."

Fumio Takagi is named as inventor on the patent.

Discloses a biological sample reaction chip that includes a plurality of reaction vessels; a first channel connected to one end of each of the reaction vessels and comprising an opening for introducing a reaction solution; and a second channel connected to the other end of each of the reaction vessels. When a capillary force of the first channel is defined as (A); a capillary force of connected portions between the reaction vessels and the first channel as (B); a capillary force of the reaction vessels as (C); a capillary force of connected portions of the second channel and the reaction vessels as (D); and a capillary force of the second channel as (E); the following is established: (A) is less than (B) is less than (C) is less than (D); and (E) is less than (D).