Berry & Associates Inc. and Fluorous Technologies, Inc. Announce Licensing Agreement
New method for the rapid and efficient purification of oligonucleotides
Dexter, MI, and Pittsburgh, PA, February 8th, 2005 -- Berry & Associates, Inc. and Fluorous Technologies, Inc. (FTI) announce the signing of a licensing agreement that brings fluorous separation technology to oligonucleotide synthesis. Berry & Associates launched a line of fluorous-adapted oligonucleotide synthesis products based on the agreement, which provides Berry & Associates and its customers with access to FTI’s proprietary fluorous synthesis and separation technology.
Oligonucleotides, which are small synthetic fragments of the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, are used in biomedical research, therapeutics, and for the detection of genetic mutations. Laboratory synthesis of oligonucleotides has been essential to the molecular biology revolution; however, purification challenges have historically limited the yield, purity and length of oligonucleotides.
Fluorous chemistry is a widely-adaptable, fast, and selective separation technology. New to science in the past decade, fluorous affinity tags act as molecular handles for purification without affecting any other aspect of the chemistry. After placing a fluorous tag on an oligonucleotide by means of traditional solid-phase techniques, the tagged material can be easily separated from impurities. The tag is then removed, leaving the pure product.
“Berry & Associates has extended Fluorous Technologies’ foundation technology to oligonucleotide synthesis,” said Dr. William H. Pearson, the Vice President for Research and Development at Berry & Associates. “Our new fluorous affinity purification products allow researchers to quickly isolate higher yields of oligonucleotides than is possible by other means, especially when long oligonucleotides are required. We believe this has great implications for oligonucleotide applications in disease research, diagnosis, and treatment.”
“We congratulate Berry & Associates on the launch of these products and look forward to working closely with them to support the synthetic oligonucleotide market,” said Dr. Philip E. Yeske, CEO of Fluorous Technologies. “This compelling new application is further evidence of the remarkable range of chemistries that can be enhanced via fluorous techniques. Oligonucleotides, together with peptides, proteins, and oligosaccharides, are an important class of compounds in the life sciences, and they expand our company’s core applications in drug discovery to include the purification of natural and synthetic biomolecules.”
About Fluorous Technologies: FTI offers advanced separation chemistry technology for use in life sciences. Applications of FTI’s molecular affinity tags range from separations and scavenging in medicinal chemistry, to purification of peptides and other biomolecules, to protein enrichment in proteomics. For more information, please visit www.fluorous.com.
About Berry & Associates, Inc.
Berry & Associates, Inc., located in Dexter, MI, is a privately held chemistry-based biotechnology company founded in 1989 that provides biomedical researchers with DNA and RNA building blocks, fluorescent markers, and other molecular tools. More information can be found at www.berryassoc.com.