Enzo Biochem Life Sciences Unit Awarded Two Patents for Fast-Growing DNA Labeling and Arrays Fields

Enzo Biochem, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Enzo Life Sciences, Inc., has been granted two new patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that will complement and strengthen existing labeling products for the genomics and diagnostics markets.

“The addition of both patents to our extensive Intellectual Property portfolio adds to the competitive position of products we are providing to the medical research establishment worldwide,” said Elazar Rabbani, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, and an inventor on the patents.

“These patents have fundamental and independent applications that materially enhance and round out our current product offerings in the continually expanding areas of biomarker labeling and genomics.”

U.S. Patent No 7,166,478, entitled “Labeling Reagents and Labeled Targets, Target Labeling Processes and Other Processes for Using Same in Nucleic Acid Determinations and Analyses,” covers a wide range of applications in DNA labeling broadly used in such areas as nucleic acid arrays for gene expression and analysis of gene copy number in chromosomes.

Enzo is currently developing labels using cyanine, which is the preferred method of labeling for this type of analysis. Together with Enzo’s proprietary technology, such compounds may have both sensitivity and consistency advantages over currently used products.

U.S. Patent No. 7,163,796, which is entitled “Process for Detecting the Presence or Quantity of Enzymatic Activity in a Sample,” relates to the use of processes developed at Enzo for use in chemiluminescent assays. These are methods for the detection of biological material where light is chemically produced, much like a fire-fly is able to glow at night. It can thus facilitate the generation of light so that instruments used for detection do not require additional inherent sources of light.