The Steady Drip: Microchip Biotechnologies Inc. Awarded $6.1M Grant To Build Next-Generation DNA Sequencer

Microchip Biotechnologies Inc. Awarded $6.1M Grant To Build Next-Generation DNA Sequencer

Published: Nov 10, 2004

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/-b-microchip-biotechnologies-inc-b-awarded-6-1m-grant-to-build-next-generation-dna-sequencer-/

FREMONT, Calif., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Microchip Biotechnologies Inc. (MBI) announced today that it has been awarded a $6.1 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to develop an innovative nanofluidic technological platform that promises to dramatically reduce the cost of DNA sequencing. The grant was the largest in a series of eleven awards totaling $38M announced on October 14 by NHGRI (part of the US National Institutes of Health), with the goal of broadening the applications of genomic information in medical research and healthcare. NHGRI's near-term goal is to lower the cost of sequencing a mammalian-sized genome to $100,000 or less, which would enable researchers to sequence the genomes of hundreds or even thousands of people as part of studies to identify genes that contribute to cancer, diabetes and other common diseases.

"We are very pleased to receive this award which recognizes MBI's unique capabilities in developing advanced instrumentation for genomics and DNA sequencing," said Dr. Stevan Jovanovich, the Principal Investigator on the grant and MBI's President and CEO. Dr. Jovanovich was formerly the Vice President for Global Research at Amersham Biosciences. "Our effort will combine the talents of MBI's scientific and engineering

staff with some of the leading researchers in the fields of genomics, chemistry, and molecular biology based at U.C. Berkeley, Northwestern University and Columbia University."

MBI plans to build a Microbead INtegrated DNA Sequencer (MINDS) System which will push Sanger-based sequencing toward its ultimate performance limit in a completely automated bench-top system. The MINDS System retains the advantages of current DNA sequencing methods, including well-developed community infrastructure, commercial availability of reagents, and existing base-calling and analysis software, but employs proprietary new technologies that reduce process volumes to the nanoliter scale.

The heart of the MINDS System will be microfabricated glass wafers with on-chip valves, pumps, and routers connecting etched nanofluidic channels that can label, amplify, and purify DNA fragments retained on individual microbeads, followed by ultra-fast separation and analysis of fluorescently-tagged products in etched on-chip electrophoresis channels. The MINDS microchips will replace not only the fused silica capillaries used in current sequencing hardware, but also entire laboratories full of sample preparation equipment. MBI projects that its MINDS System will reduce the cost of current DNA sequencing methodologies by a factor of 100 or more.

Collaborating with MBI to develop important enabling technology related to the amplification and selection of clones and associated nanofluidics will be Professor Richard A. Mathies at U.C. Berkeley, who stated, "MBI is uniquely positioned to exploit the cutting edge technologies developed by our collaborative research. Its team has many years of industrial experience designing and building leading instrumentation platforms used in the life sciences industry."

Also collaborating with MBI will be Professor Annelise Barron at Northwestern University in Illinois, who will develop novel DNA separation matrices for the on-chip etched electrophoresis channels, and Professor Jingyue Ju at the Columbia University Genome Sequencing Center in New York, who will evaluate prototype MINDS Systems as a beta test site.

"Receiving this grant is an important independent validation not only of MBI's technological approach, but also of the scientific and management teams we have assembled to move this important effort forward," said Dr. Robert Stack, MBI's Vice President of Corporate and Business Development. "We believe the MINDS System will provide genome center DNA sequencing capabilities to individual research laboratories at an affordable price. The integration of nanoscale sample preparation and microchip analysis in the MINDS System should help to usher in further advances in biomedical research, health care, and personalized medicine as well as forensics and infectious disease detection."

About MBI: Microchip Biotechnologies Inc., http://www.microchipbiotech.com/, is an early-stage, privately-held company located in Fremont, CA that is developing advanced nanofluidic sample preparation and analytical instrumentation for the genomics and biodefense markets based on their proprietary NanoBioProcessor(TM) platform.

Connecting the Dots:

In-Q-Tel was an investor in Microchip Biotechnologies, Inc.

Charles G. Boyd is a trustee at In-Q-Tel and married to Jessica Tuchman Mathews.

Jessica Tuchman Mathews is married to Charles G. Boyd, a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Margaret A. Hamburg is the VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank) and was a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

Donald Kennedy was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Mark B. McClellan was a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), the Center for American Progress,

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a supporter for the Center for American Progress and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and the Center for American Progress.

Ezekiel Emanuel is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and was the founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Sherrilyn Ifill was the chair, U.S. programs for the Open Society Foundations, is the president & director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and a law professor at the University of Maryland.

Institute for Genome Sciences is an institute at the University of Maryland.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Robert Jeffrey is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a board member for the CDC Foundation.

CDC Foundation is a foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Amy Robbins Towers is a board member for the CDC Foundation, a director at the Human Rights Watch, was a director at the Millennium Promise and married to Larry Robbins.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch, the Millennium Promise and the Robin Hood Foundation.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and a benefactor for the Human Rights Watch.

Larry Robbins is a director at the Robin Hood Foundation and was married to Amy Robbins Towers.

Emma Bloomberg was the chief of staff for the Robin Hood Foundation, Michael R. Bloomberg’s daughter and is a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation.

Michael R. Bloomberg was a donor for the Robin Hood Foundation, is Emma Bloomberg’s father and the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation.

Bloomberg Family Foundation was a funder for the CDC Foundation.

CDC Foundation is a foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Resources: Past Research

NBC Predicts: All Americans Will Receive A Microchip Implant In 2017 Per Obamacare (VIDEOS) (Past Research on Microchip)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2013/10/nbc-predicts-all-americans-will-receive.html

FDA Fails to Protect Americans from Dangerous Drugs and Unsafe Foods (Past Research on the FDA)

SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2015

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/05/fda-fails-to-protect-americans-from.html

NIH Finds Forgotten Samples of Lethal Germs in Labs (Past Research on the National Institutes of Health (NIH))

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/09/nih-finds-forgotten-samples-of-lethal.htm