Meriden, CT -- Packard BioScience Company (Nasdaq: PBSC), a worldwide
leader in the life science tools and nuclear industries, announced today
the issuance of US Patents 6,079,283 and 6,083,762 ,which together include
44 claims providing broad and fundamental coverage encompassing biochip
production by transfer of liquids through non-contact dispensing. These
patents cover methods and devices for aspirating liquids and dispensing
nanovolume droplets containing biomolecules such as DNA, proteins and
cells. This non-contact droplet dispensing technology, also known as
"drop-on-demand" dispensing, is analogous to ink-jetting
technology
and enables the inexpensive production of high-quality gene chips and
protein chips.
Current methods for biochip production include either photo lithographic
processes for synthesizing DNA on a chip, or robotic instruments to
spot DNA samples on a glass surface by contacting the surface with an
array of pins. The first method is limited to the synthesis of short
strands of DNA, so-called oligonucleotides, while mechanical spotting
systems have been limited to gene expression analysis of cDNA gene
fragments
on glass slides. Non-contact, drop-on-demand dispensing technology is
expected to expand the applications of biochips by enabling accurate
non-contact dispensing of droplets of any biological molecule on any
chip substrate.
"The issuance of these patents is a key milestone for Packard's
biochip program," said Emery G. Olcott, president
and CEO of Packard BioScience. "These patents establish our
proprietary
position in the mass production of biochips for both genomics and
proteomics
applications. Indeed, unlike other biochip production techniques, our
piezoelectric drop-on-demand technology enables us to manufacture chips
using a variety of biomolecules including oligonucleotides, cDNA gene
fragments and proteins. This makes our biochips suited for conducting
both genomics applications, such as SNP detection and gene expression
analysis, and proteomics applications such as antibody arrays."
Mr. Olcott continued, "The significance of this enabling biochip
production technology has been recognized by corporate partners such
as Motorola for DNA chip production, and ACLARA BioSciences, Inc. for
lab-on-a-chip applications. Packard currently has collaborations with
these companies to leverage our internal resources and to capitalize
on the vast potential for our biochip production technology in a broad
range of markets."
Biochips containing microarrays of genetic information promise to be
one of the most important research tools in the post-genome era. They
are one of the very few platforms that can carry out the highly parallel
analysis needed to exploit the explosive growth in genetic information
resulting from the sequencing of the human genome. Initial applications
will be in drug discovery, pharmacology and clinical research. Especially
the emerging field of pharmacogenomics is expected to benefit from biochip
analysis, eventually leading to mass diagnostic and personalized medicine
applications. Other biochip applications will include forensics, toxicology
and epidemiological research.
Packard BioScience Company is a leading global developer, manufacturer
and marketer of instruments and related consumables and services for
use in the life sciences research and nuclear industries. The Company
is primarily focused on the rapidly growing areas of drug discovery,
genomics and biochip analysis and is continuing to develop integrated
platforms based on a wide range of technologies and instrumentation.
These platforms are designed to support the industrialization of drug
discovery by bringing the benefits of miniaturization, automation and
ultra-high throughput analysis to these areas. Packard’s experience
in working in more than 60 countries with market leading customers has
allowed the Company to establish a worldwide leadership position in
many of its primary product categories, with well-recognized brand names
and a reputation for high quality, reliable instruments.
Certain statements contained herein are “forward looking”
statements which involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty, including,
without limitation, the propsective statements regarding the expected
expansion of biochip applications and our ability to capitalize on such
expansion. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially
from these statements including, without limitation, loss of market
share from competition, our ability to successfully introduce new products
and platforms, our ability to protect our intellectual property, not
infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, changes in
the markets we serve and economic issues such as interest rate and foreign
exchange fluctuations. These and other risk factors are discussed in
detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
