Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) reports that quarterly royalty payments for its RPCI-BAC-11 library have doubled for the fourth consecutive quarter under a licensing agreement with BlueGnome
The RPCI-BAC-11 library is licensed to BlueGnome for production of the CytoChip; a diagnostic microarray that is used to investigate the genetic basis of diseases ranging from leukemia's to mental retardation.
"This is very encouraging news and reflects the widespread adoption of the CytoChip as a clinical tool in over 13 countries," said Richard Matner, director of technology transfer at RPCI.
The microarray and genomics resource at RPCI has a rich history of expertise and accomplishment in the Human Genome Project that laid the foundation for array technology development and analysis, the development and implementation of high throughput technologies and the distribution of the RPCI BAC/PAC resources worldwide.
BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) and PAC (P1 artificial chromosome) resources are currently being used for a variety of research and diagnostic purposes.
Nick Haan, CEO of BlueGnome, described the RPCI-BAC-11 library, and its associated nomenclature, as the short-hand of clinical genetics, and added: "Patients are increasingly diagnosed and reported on the basis of the genomic imbalance identified by individual clones from the RPCI-BAC-11 library.
"For example the loss of the sequence mapped by the clone RP11-73G23 will be recognised by clinicians as being associated with Williams Syndrome, one of 74 genetic conditions covered by the CytoChip".
BlueGnome is licensed to use the RPCI-BAC-11 library for commercial diagnostics arrays.
Matner continued, "Royalties from the RPCI-BAC-11 library are used to benefit cancer research and patient care at the institute.
"We are therefore quite selective in our granting of licenses and are committed to ensuring that any commercial use of the RPCI-BAC-11 library is covered by the appropriate licenses."
