Microchip Biotechnologies Licenses Technology for Developing Microfluidic Devices

Microchip Biotechnologies, Inc. (MBI) and TEC Edmonton have entered into an exclusive patent license agreement that allows MBI to commercialize a University of Alberta invention that can improve the development of lab-on-a-chip devices and biosampling procedures.

“The licensing of this fundamental patent on manipulating beads on-chip continues to build upon our strong intellectual property position in microfluidic devices,” said Stevan Jovanovich, President and CEO of MBI.

“Microfluidic devices will play a critical role in next generation instrumentation in delivering fully automated, cost effective solutions life science, applied sciences, and diagnostic products for laboratory and field based applications,” he added.

California-based MBI will use the technology patented by TEC Edmonton officially called an Apparatus and Method for Trapping Bead Based Reagents within Microfluidic Analysis Systems (US Patent 6,432,290).

A team led by Dr. Jed Harrison, Professor and Chair in the Department of Chemistry, invented the technology to allow trapping of beads on-chip, as well as packing and unpacking the trapping zones, which significantly extends the applications of microfluidic analysis systems, such as those used in biodefense and genomics industries.