Woburn, MA, March 5, 2017 – CellMosaic® announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a formal patent Notice of Allowance on reversible oxime photocrosslinking reagent (oxLink™) molecules (Patent Application No. 14/965,699 entitled “Crosslinking reagents, methods, and compositions for studying protein-protein interactions”). Protein-protein interactions play an important role in regulating physiological functions in cells, such as gene expression, transport, signal transduction, and cell cycle control. Identification of interacting protein partners and the protein contact sites involved can facilitate understanding of protein function and aid in developing novel therapeutic treatments and diagnostic methods. The issued patent will provide broad intellectual property protection in the use of reversible oxime linkages to identify interacting protein partners.
“Biomolecule labeling and conjugation through oxime formation is one of the key technologies being developed and used at CellMosaic®. We are very pleased that the USPTO has granted this patent in this new class - oxLink™ reagents containing ethylene or ethylene glycol spacers. These oxLink™ reagents, along with previously patented oxLink™ reagents containing superhydrophilic AqueaTether™ (AqT™) spacers (US 8,907,079B2), give researchers a new tool to detect transient protein-protein interactions,” says Dr. Yumei Huang, inventor of oxLink™ molecules. “To identify the interaction sites of transient protein-protein interactions of GPCRs at the molecular level was a main goal in my postdoctoral studies in Professor H. G. Khorana’s laboratory. However, we were not able to make much progress at that time using traditional reversible disulfide-based photocrosslinking reagents. Now, the oxLink™ reagents will be able to overcome many of the difficulties related to the thiol chemistry. The oxLink™ technology is currently being commercialized by CellMosaic to provide easy to use reagents, kits, and protocols for investigators to use in elucidating transient protein interactions of interest.”
About oxLink™ technologies
OxLink™ technologies combine the experimental approaches of organic chemistry, molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics with computational approaches and systems biology. OxLink™ reagents are a set of photocrosslinking reagents with reversible oxime linkage and a segment for MS signature ions. Upon photolysis, carbene generated from oxLink™ forms a covalent bond with the interacting proteins. The crosslinked proteins are then digested; the reversible linkage allows efficient purification/enrichment of the crosslinked peptides. Upon fragmentation, these peptides generate signature ions for the identification and quantitation of crosslinked products. A database of oxLink™-modified amino acid residues will be compiled and related software tools developed for MS analysis and molecular modeling. High-throughput sample preparation and analysis will also be explored. The oxLink™ reagents and methods will be commercialized as kits for laboratory application in structural studies of transient molecular complexes.
In 2012, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of NIH awarded CellMosaic® a total of $159,691 in funds through an SBIR phase I grant to help develop this technology. For more information about this award, please click here.
About CellMosaic®, Inc.
CellMosaic®, Inc. is an innovator and leader in bioconjugation and crosslinking technologies. Several key technologies are being developed at CellMosaic®, including oxLink™ technologies for studying protein–protein interactions, NeIon™ technologies for detecting and quantitating trace amounts of analytes of interest, and super-hydrophilic AqT™ conjugation technology. The AqT™ platform covers linkers for clean conjugation of antibody/protein/peptide/oligo with small molecule drugs; biocompatible, biodegradable, mono-dispersed AqT™ macromolecules for the modification of protein/peptide/oligo drugs and the preparation of highly loaded small molecule drugs for better delivery; and bioconjugation platform technologies involving screening, labeling/crosslinking, purification, and analysis of any bioconjugate. CellMosaic® is also actively engaged in serving the biological and life science communities by providing custom synthesis of high-quality bioconjugate products.
About AqueaTether™ Therapeutics
AqueaTether™ Therapeutics is a division of CellMosaic® created in 2016. AqueaTether™ Therapeutics focuses on the discovery and development of novel hybrid drug entities beyond the conventional drug classes by using AqueaTether™ (AqT™) conjugation and delivery platform technologies. We work with our partners to advance their programs. For more information regarding AqueaTether™-based bioconjugate drugs, please visit our website www.aqttherapeutics.com.
oxLink™, AqueaTether™, CellMosaic® are trademarks of CellMosaic, Inc.