Agilent Technologies awarded patent for new CGH assays

Agilent Technologies has been awarded a patent for new comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) assays it has developed.

The US patent covers new methods of measuring copy number changes in genomic DNA – covering both one-colour and two-colour assays – using oligonucleotide probes and samples with high-sequence complexity.

Agilent's method uses long oligonucleotide probes to enable high specificity and sensitivity, improving on older techniques using long genomic fragments such as bacterial artificial chromosomes, or other oligonucleotide array assays that depend on sample preparation methods which remove significant portions of the genomic DNA content.

CGH methods help researchers study human genomic DNA samples and aid the development of cancer therapies.

Robert Schueren, Agilent's vice-president for genomics, said: "We are excited by the latest intellectual property supporting our market-leading CGH array. This reflects Agilent's continued investment in and dedication to the cytogenetics clinical research space."

Last week, the company announced its financial results for the quarter ending on July 31st 2012, reporting a two percent year-on-year revenue increase to $1.72 billion (1.09 billion pounds).