Akceli, Inc. Announces First Patent Issued; Patent Covers Cell Microarray Technology.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers BIOWIRE2K CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 2003 Akceli, a high throughput biology company, today announced the award of its first U.S. Patent (No. 6,544,790) entitled, "Reverse Transfection trans·fec·tion n. Infection of a bacterium or cell with DNA or RNA isolated from a bacteriophage or from an animal or a plant virus, resulting in replication of the complete virus. Method." Licensed exclusively from MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology , the patent is the first to be issued in a series of filings covering microarrays of transfected mammalian cells. Akceli's technology helps pharmaceutical researchers make better decisions by providing more comprehensive information earlier in the drug discovery process. Unlike traditional assay technologies, Akceli's cell microarrays have the speed, scalability and flexibility to allow genome-wide explorations of targets, target-target pairs and target-compound pairs. "The issuance of the first patent in our portfolio of technology and application filings is a significant milestone for the company," said David M. Chao, Ph.D., president and co-founder of Akceli. "Our cell microarrays enable experiments aimed at discovering new drug targets and identifying drug-protein interactions. What's different about Akceli is our ability to perform these experiments on thousands of variables at an unprecedented speed and scale." Akceli creates arrays of transfected cells in each well of a plastic microtiter plate A Microtiter plate or microplate is a flat plate with multiple "wells" used as small test tubes. The microplate has become a standard tool in analytical research and clinical diagnostic testing laboratories. . To make the array of arrays, dozens of hydrogel-encapsulated nucleic acids Nucleic acids The cellular molecules DNA and RNA that act as coded instructions for the production of proteins and are copied for transmission of inherited traits. are robotically printed in discrete locations on the bottom of each well. Mammalian cells are then deposited on each array of nucleic acids, allowed to take up the nucleic acid nucleic acid, any of a group of organic substances found in the chromosomes of living cells and viruses that play a central role in the storage and replication of hereditary information and in the expression of this information through protein synthesis. , and studied in target identification or compound profiling experiments. The newly patented reverse transfection technology enables the manufacture of microarrays containing thousands of data points rather than the hundreds contained in a traditional plate of equal size. The high-density format of Akceli's cell microarrays allows researchers to study an entire target class or ultimately the entire genome, in one microtiter plate. Moreover, to accelerate adoption by both academic and commercial laboratories, Akceli's arrays are compatible with standard equipment, such as conventional liquid handling robots and automated microscopy. Applications currently enabled by Akceli include selectivity testing for kinases and GPCRs and screening for new anti-cancer targets. About Akceli Akceli is a high throughput biology company exploiting a proprietary cell microarray technology. Akceli's cell microarrays enable drug discovery researchers to explore new regions of target/compound space by rapidly interrogating mammalian cells with genes, drugs and proteins. The speed, scale and flexibility of Akceli's cell microarrays improve target and lead selection by providing researchers with comprehensive, high quality information earlier in the discovery process. Founded in 2001 by a team of scientists from MIT's Whitehead Institute Founded in 1982, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research and teaching institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Whitehead Institute was founded as a fiscally independent entity from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and its members for Biomedical Research Biomedical research (or experimental medicine), in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research or applied research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine. , Akceli is backed by leading venture capital firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] Atlas Venture Atlas Venture is an international early-stage venture capital firm that invests in communications, information technology, and life sciences companies. Atlas Venture has investing offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris, and its investments are evenly divided between the and Apple Tree Partners and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Additional information about Akceli can be found at www.akceli.com. |
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