PLATFORM (4)
Bio-Barcode Assay

This pipeline technology is currently under active research per our strategic development plan 2007-2009

Canopus BioPharma has acquired options on the intellectual property rights to a new assay technology designed to replace current PCR assay methods, called Colorimetrix Bio-Barcode developed at Berkeley University, California, USA. The standard bio-barcode amplification assay has become a powerful tool in detecting tens to hundreds of biological targets such as proteins and nucleic acids in a biological sample. However, current bio-barcode detection methods still require many experimental steps including microarrayer-based immobilization of oligonucleotides on a glass chip, silver enhancement of immobilized gold nanoparticles on a chip, and light-scattering measurement. Our licensed colorimetric bio-barcode method minimizes the above requirements while detecting 30M-18 concentrations of cytokines (approximately 3 orders of magnitude more sensitive than conventional non-enzymatic cytokine detection assays).The assay is based on porous microparticles, which enable loading of a large number of barcode DNA per particle, and gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric barcode detection method. This technology combined with our in-house Camelidae antibodies (see Camelidae Blood Products Platform) is facilitating the development of a urine based early detection assay for prostate cancer.