Nov 10 2004
QTL Biosystems announced that it is has been awarded a utility patent US 6,743,640 for a fluorescent polymer-QTL approach to sensing target biological agents. The technique can be used to identify an extremely broad range of targets, creating a highly sensitive, homogeneous assay platform. The platform utilizes changes in polymer fluorescence (polymer “superquenching”) in the presence or absence of a target biological agent.
The patented QTL bioconjugate enables quantitative detection of a diverse range of targets such as enzymes, small molecule ligands, proteins including antibodies and antibody fragments, and DNA. The property altering component of the QTL bioconjugate covers a range of materials ranging from fluorescent dyes to metal complexes and covers electron donors and acceptors as well as “energy transferring moieties.” The claims granted also extend the original QTL sensing approach to systems using polymer superquenching on solid supports. This patent broadens the range of coverage obtained in University of California/Los Alamos National Laboratory patent US 6,589,731, issued July 8, 2003 and licensed exclusively to QTL.
“These two issued patents, together with a number of pending patent applications, provide a strong technology foundation for the QTL LightSpeedTM platform,” stated David Whitten, co-founder and Chief Science Officer for QTL Biosystems. QTL LightSpeedTM assays are available for several kinase, protease and phosphatase enzyme targets. The assays meet the demanding requirements of high-throughput screening in pharmaceutical research. The platform delivers single step, easy-to-use assays that are compatible with existing laboratory equipment. The Company plans to introduce an additional nine kinase assays from November to January 2005 with rapid expansion continuing through the year.
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