Table 1 Recent patent applications in drug discovery automation
From: Recent patent applications in drug discovery automation
Patent # | Subject | Assignee(s) | Inventor(s) | Priority application date | Publication date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JP 2007209256 | An incubator for culturing samples (e.g., cells) with an automatic conveyance unit that moves a culture container and positions the sample in it along the optical axis of the illuminating system during observation of the sample by a microscopic unit; useful in drug discovery and regenerative medicine. | Nikon (Tokyo) | Nakamura K, Uozumi T | 2/9/2006 | 8/23/2007 |
JP 2007161453 | A rack for carrying out storage management of a drug sample in a constant-temperature, constant-humidity, refrigerated environment. The user can automatically calculate the positional information on all the storage racks by using one hand, without requiring a new position detector, and acquire the positional information about the X-axial direction at a higher precision; useful in drug-discovery research environments. | Tsubakimoto Chain Co. (Osaka, Japan) | Oshimo J, Shibata N | 12/15/2005 | 6/28/2007 |
JP 2007046956 | A dispensing apparatus with a chip remover placed at the back of the dispensing section; used in an automatic dispensing analyzer that identifies a drug discovery screen field and enables the efficient discharging of disposable chips. | Juki Corp. (Tokyo) | Okubo K | 8/8/2005 | 2/22/2007 |
US 20060228695 | A method for determining hepatotoxic response or a pathology induced by a stimulus comprising receiving image(s) of hepatocytes that have been exposed to a stimulus, automatically generating features characterizing the hepatocytes and applying the features to a hepatotoxicity model or a pathology model to classify the stimulus, where the stimulus is classified as cholestasis, steatosis or apoptosis. | Cytokinetics (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) | Adams CL, Fan J, Mattheakis LC, Rao A, Solar GP, Trautman JK, Vaisberg E | 7/18/2003 | 10/12/2006 |
WO 2006102416 | An automated cell culture and passaging system comprising an incubation device to facilitate growth of cells in cell culture containers and an assay component to perform assay on cells from the cell cultures. The incubation device delivers cells from cell culture to the assay device without human intervention. | IRM (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA), Caldwell JS, Chang JY, Downs RC, King FJ, Mainquist JK | Caldwell JS, Chang JY, Downs RC, King FJ, Mainquist JK | 3/22/2005 | 9/28/2006 |
US 20060207066 | A robotic charge-coupled device microscope for crystal recognition that has a lighting system comprising a cluster of high-brightness white LEDs; useful for crystal recognition (claimed), which has applicability in structural genomics industries, in rational drug discovery and automated recognition of microscopic scale objects using light microscopy (e.g., tissue dissection pathology, tissue typing, colony counting). | Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA, USA) | Segelke BW, Toppani D | 3/16/2005 | 9/21/2006 |
WO 2006087366 | An automated method for identifying strains of microorganisms that are deficient in protease secretion, comprising generating mutants, placing a mutant on a gel present in wells of a microtiter plate, incubating so that proteins are secreted by the mutants and separating mutants from the gel. | Cilian AG (Munich) | Broermann A, Hartmann M | 2/16/2005 | 8/24/2006 |
WO 2006060214 | A system for automatic manipulation of a biological sample comprising a product of manufacture to sustain a positioned biological sample, at least one stimulator to alter at least one parameter to which the sample is exposed, at least one sensor to measure the parameter and a controller comprising or operably connected to an algorithm to automatically determine the stimulus given to the sample. | Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA, USA) | Ho C, Wong PK | 11/18/2004 | 6/8/2006 |
WO 2006036737 | A method for identifying a new therapeutic use for a test entity such as a drug or drug candidate, involving selecting the test entity, testing the activity of the test entity against a protein complex in a cell and using the results obtained to identify a new activity of the test entity. | Odyssey Thera (San Ramon, CA, USA) | MacDonald ML, Michnick SW, Owens S, Westwick JK, Yu H | 9/22/2004 | 4/6/2006 |
WO 2005104755 | An artificial immune system comprising a vaccination site having a first matrix and several cells attached to the matrix and a three-dimensional artificial lymphoid tissue having a second matrix and several lymphocytes; useful in a bioreactor for testing (e.g., vaccine efficacy) and for testing immunogenicity of agents (e.g., adjuvants, drugs, biogenics, cosmetics and other chemicals in vitro). | Drake D, Fahlenkamp H, Higbee RN, Irvine DJ, Kachurin A, Mishkin E, Moe D, Nguyen MN, Parkhill R, Rivard M, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Tew JG, VaxDesign (Orlando, FL, USA), Warren WL, Moser J, Singh I, Song H | Drake D, Fahlenkamp H, Higbee RN, Irvine DJ, Kachurin A, Li CK, Mishkin E, Moe D, Nacohen N, Nguyen MN, Parkhill R, Randolph G, Rivard M, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Tew JG, Torbett B, Warren WL, Moser J, Singh I, Song H | 4/28/2004 | 11/10/2005 |
