Nanogen Issued Key Nanotechnology Patent
Wednesday December 3, 8:02 am ET
Newly Issued Patent Broadens Proprietary Position in
Nanomanufacturing and Nanotechnology
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nanogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: NGEN - News) 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."