Cellomics announces issuance of cell-based screening patent.

Cellomics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Cellomics United States Patent 6,416,959 entitled "A System for Cell-Based Screening." The patent encompasses methods for High Content Screening, including methods for cell-based detection and classification and/or identification of toxins in a test substance. Specifically, the claims include methods of measuring the localization, distribution, structure or activity of fluorescent reporter molecules to detect the presence of a toxin in a test substance, identify the pathway that is perturbed by the toxin, and/or identify the specific toxin or group of toxins that are present in the test substance.

"Effective implementation of High Content Screening assays for cytotoxicity assessment is rapidly becoming critical in drug discovery. This patent strengthens our already strong portfolio of BioApplications and reagents that, together with the rest of our powerful High Content Screening platform, enable our users to quickly integrate cytotoxicity evaluations into their research," stated Dr. Jeffrey Haskins, Vice President of Assay Development with Cellomics. "This patent expands Cellomics' portfolio of intellectual property in the High Content Screening area," added Dr. D. Lansing Taylor, CEO. "We believe that this patent , as well as our additional patent applications on High Content Screening assays, reagents, instrumentation, and tools for information management and cellular bioinformatics, will further Cellomics' standing as the leader in High Content Screening."

Cellomics is in the field of cellular knowledge extraction. Its unique technology, referred to as High Content Screening, integrates fluorescent reagents, kits, cell lines, multi-parametric assays, High Content Screening instrumentation (both fixed end-point and kinetics systems), and information management systems to achieve a flexible, broadly applicable platform for users in the life sciences. This automated platform, when applied to lead optimization, predictive toxicology, and new target validation, is proving to reduce the "idea-to-discovery" cycle time in drug discovery, while increasing the probability of the therapeutic success of leads. Currently, Cellomics' proprietary platform is in use at multiple sites within the top 15 pharmaceutical companies in the world, as well as other leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and major academic centers globally.

Cellomics, Inc.
[phone] x2237
www.cellomics.com