Fujirebio suppports biochip development by Zyomyx

Zyomyx (Hayward, CA) has reached an agreement with Fujirebio of Tokyo to co-develop and market protein biochips for diagnostics and screening applications. Under the terms of the deal, Zyomyx will receive research and development funds from Fujirebio for three years as well as royalty payments on any future sales. Fujirebio will have exclusive commercialization rights in Japan for any products jointly developed.

Zyomyx is developing technologies to close the gap between protein biochemistry and microfabricated devices. The company has designed a variety of miniaturized, protein biochip architectures and BioMEMS devices containing fully functional proteins. Zyomyx biochips integrate proprietary advancements in the areas of advanced materials, protein immobilization, high-resolution protein dispensing, and ultra-sensitive detection technologies.

Technology development at Zyomyx is focused on transitioning from solution-based to surface-based reactions in order to achieve highly parallel, high-throughput protein analysis. Tethering proteins to well-defined surfaces directs bi-molecular reactions into the confocal plane of a two-dimensional system. This strategy effectively minimizes reaction volumes, enables novel types of assays, and increases the signal-to-noise ratio by orders of magnitude. To take full advantage of this protein biochip architecture, Zyomyx is developing a complementary ultrahigh-throughput, robotic, protein-dispensing tool that has been carefully designed and engineered to minimize protein denaturation and to permit precise and accurate addressability during the biochip printing.

For more information: Zyomyx Inc., 3911 Trust Way, Hayward CA 94545. Tel: 510-266-7500. Fax: 510-784-2569.

Edited by Laura DeFrancesco
Managing Editor, Bioresearch Online
ldefrancesco@bioresearchonline.com