synthetic phylomer libraries, page-3

I agree Wayne, we are certainly moving much closer towards a trade sale.

The engagement of Griffin Securities is quite broad, but I think prospective collaborations, particularly in the synthetic biology space may be next for Phylogica. I believe Phylogica will be approaching other companies that could be very interested in that element of their platform and soon. Why do I think that? Over the past few days I've been quietly making my way through the patent and taking notes. Here's a company that was highlighted on the Synthetic Libraries Patent that really caught my attention - Biacore. 

Taken from Synthetic Libraries Patent... 

http://www.google.com/patents/US20080081768

Surface Plasmon Resonance

Alternatively the library is screened using a surface-plasmon resonance assay, such as, for example, Biacore sensor chip technology (Biacore AB, UK). The Biacore sensor chip is a glass surface coated with a thin layer of gold modified with carboxymethylated dextran, to which a target molecule, e.g., protein or nucleic acid is covalently attached. The peptide library of the invention is then brought into contact with the target molecule. Essentially, a surface plasmon resonance assay detects changes in the mass of the aqueous layer close to the chip surface, through measuring changes in the refractive index. Accordingly, when a peptide from a library of the present invention binds to the target protein or nucleic acid the refractive index increases.

As will be apparent to the skilled artisan another biosensor, such as, for example, an evanescent biosensor, a membrane based biosensor (as described in AU 623,747, U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,566 and USSN 20030143726) or a microcantilever biosensor (as described in USSN 20030010097) is useful for screening the peptides of the present invention. 

Taken from Wikipedia....

Biacore is a life science products company, based in Sweden specializing in measuring protein-protein interaction and binding affinity. The technology is based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR), an optical phenomenon that enables detection of unlabeled interactants in real time. The SPR-based biosensors can be used in determination of active concentration as well as characterization of molecular interactions in terms of both affinity and chemical kinetics.

Biacore was founded in 1984 under the name of Pharmacia Biosensor AB, based on people from Pharmacia, Linköping Institute of Technology and the Swedish National Defense Research Institute (FOA, now renamed the Swedish Defence Research Agency or FOI). In 1996 the company changed its name to Biacore AB Corporation. In June 2006 GE Healthcare acquired Biacore for $390 million.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biacore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_Healthcare  

Taken from Wikipedia....

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is the collective oscillation of valence electrons[citation needed] in a solid stimulated by incident light. The resonance condition is established when the frequency of light photons matches the natural frequency of surface electrons oscillating against the restoring force of positive nuclei. SPR in nanometer-sized structures is called localized surface plasmon resonance.[1]

SPR is the basis of many standard tools for measuring adsorption of material onto planar metal (typically gold and silver) surfaces or onto the surface of metal nanoparticles. It is the fundamental principle behind many color-based biosensor applications and different lab-on-a-chip sensors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_plasmon_resonance 

I've conducted quite a bit of research on universal array chips for diagnostics (as have an interest in another company in this space) and a great summary from Wikipedia can be found below. 

LOCs and Global Health

Lab-on-a-chip technology may soon become an important part of efforts to improve global health,[9] particularly through the development of point-of-care testing devices. In countries with few healthcare resources, infectious diseases that would be treatable in a developed nation are often deadly. In some cases, poor healthcare clinics have the drugs to treat a certain illness but lack the diagnostic tools to identify patients who should receive the drugs. Many researchers[who?] believe that LOC technology may be the key to powerful new diagnostic instruments. The goal of these researchers is to create microfluidic chips that will allow healthcare providers in poorly equipped clinics to perform diagnostic tests such as immunoassays and nucleic acid assays with no laboratory support. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab-on-a-chip  

Could Phylogica's be moving in on newer Point Of Care work that involves what I have highlighted above? It certainly appears that way and Biacore highlighted on the patent (now acquired by Billion dollar company General Electric) just stood out for me. Pretty exciting isn't it? What are your thoughts?

Regards,
Tony