Zyomyx Gets Another Protein Biochip Patent
Zyomyx, of Hayward, Calif., said it has received US Patent No. 6,630,358, which covers methods of making and using protein arrays that are designed to resist non-specific protein binding.
The patent, “Arrays of proteins and methods of use thereof,” describes arrays in which “a plurality of different proteins … are immobilized on one or more organic thinfilms on the substrate surface.” It was granted Oct. 7, and filed May 12, 2000.
Proteome Sciences Awarded Patent for Protein Cancer Biomarkers
Proteome Sciences said this week it has been granted US Patent No. 6,645,465, “Annexin Proteins and Autoantibodies as Serum Markers for Cancer.”
The patent describes the use of annexins and antibodies in tests to diagnose lung, breast, and esophageal cancers, and in identifying patients at elevated risk for developing cancer. It covers methods in which sera from subjects is screened for serum autoantibodies to specific antigens to annexin proteins, as well as a means for detection of increased expression of annexin proteins in a subject. Additionally, it provides kits for the screening methods. The patent, granted on Nov. 11 and filed Aug. 6, 1999, lists Samir Hanash as the lead inventor.
The company said it is seeking partners to co-dev-elop diagnostic and prognostic tests that are based on this annexin autoantibody detection technology.
Ciphergen Announces Alzheimer’s Biomarker Pattern
Ciphergen Biosystems said this week that it has discovered a biomarker pattern that correctly classified more than 96 percent of Alzheimer’s disease patents and more than 94 percent of normal individuals using a four peak pattern of markers.
The company said the findings were presented at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
Ciphergen said that researchers analyzed cerebrospinal fluid from probable Alzheimer’s diease pateints and age-matched normal individuals using the company’s SELDI ProteinChip biomarker system and Expression Difference Mapping methodology.
Of the 39 candidate biomarkers found to be overexpressed among the Alzheimer’s disease sufferers, a pattern of four was selected and used to correctly classify 29 of out 30 Alzheimer’s disease patients and 33 of 35 normal individuals.
Ciphergen said that additional studies looking at more than 200 additional samples are underway to validate the markers’ utility in diagnosing early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and differentiating the condition from other dementias.
RoboDesign, SGX Sign Deal for High-Throughput Crystallization Systems
RoboDesign International and Structural Genomix have signed an agreement to implement custom-designed systems for high-throughput crystallization, RoboDesign said this week.
The systems allow users to store, image, and analyze crystallization trials, said RoboDesign, of Carlsbad, Calif.
Serenex, Roche Ink Target Screening Deal
Serenex said this week that it has signed a deal to use its proteome mining and functional proteome fractionation technologies to screen small molecule drug compounds provided by Roche against multiple protein targets.
The companies will evaluate how effective Serenex’s technologies are in helping Roche identify the most appropriate compounds to advance through the drug development pipeline, Serenex said.
Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
Ionalytics and U. FLORIDA to Do LD Research
Ionalytics and researchers at the University of Flor-ida said this week they will collaborate in a project to use atmospheric pressure laser desorption techniques in combination with high-Field Asymmetric waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry, or FAIMS, in an effort to improve performance of mass spectrometers.
The research will be led by Richard Yost, a professor of Chemistry at UF, who will look at methods to combine LD techniques, including atmospheric pressure/matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization and laser desorption/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization with Selectra, an instrument for dynamic ion filtering prov-ided by Ionalytics. Roger Guevremont, the founder and CSO at Ionalytics, will also participate in the research, the company said.
These efforts, according to the company, are aimed at decreasing the chemical background noise which can limit the sensitivity of LD techniques.