Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, is offering an opportunity to license intellectual property for a new Fast PCR Instrument technology for commercialization.
The invention is a microfluidic PCR thermal cycling method capable of extremely fast cycles, and a resulting extremely fast detection time. The technology utilizes a robust, stable and precise temperature control system to cycle the DNA microchip at heating and cooling rates greater than 150 deg/sec without overshoot or undershoot.
The architecture is compact, and allows for optical interrogation, resulting in a field-portable, rapid real-time PCR system. It is estimated that with this method, target nucleic acid templates approaching 1 Kb in length can be amplified under five minutes. These technologies are currently being prototyped at LLNL.
The technology is described in the publication, “Under-three minute PCR: Probing the limits of fast amplification” (The Analyst, 2011, 136, 3707-3712).
LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Interested parties are requested to contact LLNL via their tech transfer Industrial Partnerships Office website.
Further details are available under Solicitation Number: FBO269-13. Responses are encouraged to be submitted by June 3, 2013.
