Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving nucleic acid
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-24
2003-12-30
Ketter, James (Department: 1636)
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving nucleic acid
C435S285100, C435S458000, C424S450000, C430S326000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06670129
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the biotechnology field and, in particular, to an apparatus and method that can be used to effectively produce an array of transfected cells.
2. Description of Related Art
The recent completion of the Human Genome Project means that researchers are going to be asked to study the functions of thousands of known genes and unknown genes in DNA sequences. As such, the researchers are going to need tools that can enable them to effectively and expeditiously study the functions of these genes and the proteins encoded by these genes.
Traditional tools that are used by researchers to perform these studies are not effective, because they make it hard for the researchers to produce an array of transfected cells. The transfection of cells is the introduction of one or more of exogenous genes into target cells. Transfected cells produce the proteins encoded by the exogenous genes. The study of these proteins has diverse applications in a wide variety of fields including, for example, the pharmaceutical field, the medical field and the agricultural field. An example of a traditional cell transfection apparatus is briefly discussed below with respect to FIG.
1
.
Referring to
FIG. 1
(PRIOR ART), there is illustrated a perspective view of a traditional cell transfection apparatus
100
. Basically, the traditional cell transfection apparatus
100
is a slide
102
on which a robotic arrayer prints a plasmid DNA
104
dissolved in an aqueous gelatin solution. The slide
102
is dried and the printed array of plasmid DNA
104
is covered with a lipid transfection reagent
106
. Alternatively, the lipid transfection reagent
106
can be added to the plasmid DNA
104
before the DNA is printed. After removal of the lipid transfection reagent
106
, the slide
102
is placed in a culture dish
108
and covered with cells in a growth media
110
. The arrayed cells become transfected in one to two days after which the researchers can study the proteins encoded by the plasmid DNA
104
. For a more detailed discussion about the traditional cell transfection apparatus
100
reference is made to an article by J. Ziauddin and D. M Sabatini, “Microarrays of Cells Expressing Defined cDNAs” Nature
411
,
107
-
110
(May 3, 2001). This article is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Unfortunately, there are many drawbacks associated with the traditional cell transfection apparatus
100
. First, the cells
110
attach and grow over the total surface area of the slide
102
covering the printed plasmid DNA
104
and the areas between the spots of plasmid DNA
104
. As such, the transfected cells can be located only if transfection occurs and the plasmid DNA
104
is engineered to carry a marker or protein tag (e.g., green fluorescent protein, HA, FLAG), radiolabel or an antibiotic resistance protein. Secondly, the robotic arrayer prints the plasmid DNA
104
onto the slide
102
one spot at a time which is not only very time consuming but also slows down the production rate. Accordingly, there is a need for a cell transfection apparatus that is designed to address the aforementioned problems and other problems associated with the traditional cell transfection apparatus
100
. This need and other needs are addressed by the cell transfection apparatus and methods of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention includes a cell transfection apparatus and methods for making and using the cell transfection apparatus. The cell transfection apparatus has a surface on which there is printed at different locations one or more foreign biomolecules (e.g., DNA, RNA, oligonucleotides, nucleotides). The foreign biomolecules can be printed at the same time. The surface is then covered with a transfection reagent which is incubated and removed from the surface before cells in a cell growth media are placed on the surface. The surface is configured such that the cells which become transfected with one or more foreign biomolecules are segregated from the cells which fail to become transfected with one or more foreign biomolecules. There are two embodiments of the cell transfection apparatus described herein.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5654185 (1997-08-01), Palsson
patent: 5804431 (1998-09-01), Palsson
patent: 5811274 (1998-09-01), Palsson
patent: 5851818 (1998-12-01), Huang et al.
patent: 6022700 (2000-02-01), Monks et al.
patent: WO 95/35505 (1995-12-01), None
patent: WO 96/17948 (1996-06-01), None
patent: WO 99/00520 (1999-01-01), None
patent: WO 99/14376 (1999-03-01), None
patent: WO 99/55826 (1999-11-01), None
patent: WO 99/55886 (1999-11-01), None
patent: WO 01/20015 (2001-03-01), None
S. Drmanac et al. “Processing of cDNA and Genomic Kilobase-Size Clones for Massive Screening, Mapping and Sequencing by Hybridization”, 7 pages, BioTechniques, vol. 17, No. 2 (1994).
J. Ziauddin et al. “Microarrays of Cells Expressing Defined cDNAs”, Nature 411:107-110 (May 3, 2001).
Feuer Bernice I.
Picard Laurent A. G.
Webb Brian L.
Beall Thomas R.
Corning Incorporated
Ketter James
Kung Vincent T.
LandOfFree
Cell transfection apparatus and methods for making and using... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cell transfection apparatus and methods for making and using..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cell transfection apparatus and methods for making and using... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3176011