[extropy-chat] Nanogen's new patents in nanotech andnanomanufacturing

Damien Broderick thespike at earthlink.net
Thu Dec 4 22:15:28 UTC 2003


This has more detail:

Nanogen Issued Key Nanotechnology Patent

Newly Issued Patent Broadens Proprietary Position in Nanomanufacturing and
Nanotechnology

December 3, 2003; San Diego, CA (PRNewswire-FirstCall) -- Nanogen, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NGEN)
today announced that it has been issued U.S. Patent No. 6,652,808, "Methods
for the Electronic
Assembly and Fabrication of Devices," ("the '808 patent") by the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office.
This patent is the parent of a series of pending patent applications that
significantly broaden
Nanogen's proprietary position in the nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing
areas.  The Company
has now been issued nine patents during 2003, bringing the total number of
patents issued in the
U.S. to 56.

    "One of the challenges in producing new electronic and photonic devices
using nanoscale
components is the integration of these components into viable higher order
devices.  The new
Nanogen patent describes a unique electric field 'pick and place' process
that facilitates the
bringing together or integration of diverse DNA nanocomponents, thereby
helping solve difficult
scaling issues.  Combining the top-down electric field process with the
bottom-up DNA self-assembly
process enables more selective and higher precision incorporation of
nanoscale components
into higher order devices and structures," said Dr. Michael J. Heller,
co-founder of Nanogen,
one of the inventors, and currently a Professor in the Departments of
Bioengineering and
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San
Diego.

   "The technology described by Nanogen's new patent may provide a
technological foundation
for the effective use of nanocomponents in many diverse applications," said
Howard Birndorf,
Nanogen chairman and CEO.  "As we continue to increase and broaden our
intellectual property
portfolio, we intend to realize value from our nanotechnology patents
through licensing or partnering
opportunities.  Congress' recent commitment to nanotechnology research and
development
underscores the potential our technologies may have for impacting several
industries, including medicine."

    The new nanotechnology patent relates to a nanofabrication technology
that combines an electric
field assisted manufacturing platform and programmable self-assembling
nanostructures (for example,
DNA building blocks) for the fabrication of a wide range of unique
higher-order nano and microscale
devices, structures, and materials.  The nanofabrication platform and
process would be used for:
(1) producing new nanoscale electronic and photonic devices and structures,
including high-density
2D and 3D data storage materials, 2D and 3D photonic crystal structures,
hybrid electronic/photonic
devices such as large area light emitting flat panel arrays and displays,
and for the fabrication of highly
integrated medical diagnostic and biosensor devices;
(2) organization, assembly and interconnection of nanostructures and
submicron components onto
silicon wafers and other materials;
(3) integration of nanostructures within preformed microelectronic and
optoelectronic structures;
(4) production of precision modified nanoparticles (for example, photonic
crystals, nanospheres and
quantum dots) which can then more efficiently self-assemble into 2D and 3D
structures and materials
(photonic band gap structures, nanocomposite materials and so forth); and
(5) fabrication of selectively
addressable DNA nanoarray substrates and materials.

    The patent represents a unique nanofabrication technology which combines
the best aspects of
top-down microfabrication   processes with bottom-up biological type
self-assembly processes for
producing novel nanodevices and nanostructures.  The process is highly
parallel and has an inherent
hierarchical logic allowing one to control the organization, assembly and
communication of components
from the molecular and nanoscale into macroscale devices and structures.

    The '808 patent is jointly owned by Nanotronics, Inc., a wholly owned
subsidiary of Nanogen,
and the Regents of the University of California. Nanogen has exclusively
licensed the interests of the
University of California where there is joint inventorship.  Additionally,
Nanogen disclosed the issuance
over the last several months of three patents relating to electronic
microarray technology.  The three
additional issued patents are U.S. Patent No. 6,582,660 "Control System for
Active Programmable
Electronic Microbiology System," U.S. Patent No. 6,589,742 "Multiplex
Amplification and Separation
of Nucleic Acid Sequences on a Bioelectronic Microchip Using Asymmetric
Structures," and U.S.
Patent No. 6,638,482 "Reconfigurable Detection and Analysis Apparatus and
Method."

For additional
information please visit Nanogen's website at www.nanogen.com.


SOURCE  Nanogen, Inc.
CO:  Nanogen, Inc.
ST:  California
SU:  PDT
Web site:  http://www.nanogen.com
http://www.prnewswire.com
12/03/2003 08:01 EST





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