Mar 16 2011
TriLink BioTechnologies, Inc. (TriLink) was recently awarded a Phase I SBIR Grant of approximately $100,000 by the National Institutes of Health to develop a Hot Start approach for Ligase Chain Reaction (LCR). Hot Start LCR will employ chemically modified ligation components containing thermolabile protecting groups to eliminate common performance problems seen in LCR, such as false-positive signals and non-specificity. TriLink hopes to find similar benefits as those found in development of their Hot Start primers and dNTPs. If successful, this approach could allow LCR to replace applications where traditional PCR, Gap-LCR and PCR/ligation combination approaches are too expensive, not applicable or problematic. This is the fifth Phase I grant TriLink has been awarded, and it will be funded through July 2011.
"We are excited to have the opportunity to test our proven Hot Start approach on an application with the potential to capture a significant portion of the PCR market," remarked Dr. Alexandre Lebedev, Senior Principal Scientist.
"Moving into LCR is a natural progression for TriLink. While developing our successful CleanAmp™ PCR products and our ongoing ligation work, we gained a unique perspective on the limitations of LCR, and the technical knowledge to solve them," stated TriLink's President and CEO, Richard Hogrefe.
SOURCE TriLink BioTechnologies, Inc.