Cambridge, MA, June 3, 2002—8:00
AM EST—BioTrove announced today that MIT has received
a patent on the Living Chip™ technology, which is licensed exclusively
world-wide to BioTrove.
U.S. patent No. 6,387,331 has been issued to the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, where the basic technology was invented. The patent encompasses
the microchips as well as the imaging system used with the chips.
BioTrove has developed the Living Chip™ technology as a biotechnology
platform for Massively Parallel Screening, Storage and Synthesis.
“The Living Chip™ is a total solution for nano-volume super-high-throughput
chemical or biological library management and screening,” stated
Tom Morrison, Director of Biomolecular Discovery. “The platform will
make compound and biological libraries immediately and directly accessible
to scientists with a minimum footprint in terms of storage and associated
instrumentation. Other benefits to the end-user include 100-fold reduction
in sample volumes and a throughput in the millions of assays per day with
a high degree of assay flexibility.”
The Living Chip™ consists of a precisely constructed, high-density
arrays of micro-channels, or bottomless wells, in a plate. The Living
Chip™ may be thought of as a dense array of test-tubes that are easily
filled and washed. The system combines the advantages of high-density
arrays on glass slides, with the added functionality that liquids and
gases may easily pass into and out of the channels.
About BioTrove:
BioTrove Inc. is a privately held, biotechnology company focused on leveraging
revolutionary micro- and nano-scale engineering solutions to overcome
current bottlenecks in drug discovery and biotechnology. BioTrove has
two core technology platforms: the Living Chip™ and the Lab-on-a-Tape™.
The BioTrove team integrates biologists, analytical chemists and material
scientists with electro-mechanical, optical, chemical and software engineers
creating a cohesive interdisciplinary approach to technology development.
BioTrove offers both library storage and screening services based on the
core technology to partners. BioTrove’s goal is to provide a solution
to store and analyze at rates approaching one billion samples per day
in nanoliter volumes.
The Living Chip technology was invented at MIT by Professor Ian Hunter
of Mechanical Engineering and the Division of Bioengineering and Environmental
Health. He is a co-founder of BioTrove.
For more information contact:
Robert Hess, V.P. Business Development
(617) 551-3408
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