Steve Turner, CEO of Protea, said: “We are pleased to have our technology recognised by the US patent office. Patents are the key assets of biotechnology, as they represent ownership in new technology and new knowledge. We are building a growing life sciences company based upon our own scientific discoveries as represented by this latest US patent, as well as those of our research collaborators at West Virginia University, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington University.
“Protea employs its protein separation technology to develop new products that enable the recovery of proteins from biological samples. This is a critical area of pharmaceutical research, as proteins are the biological targets of the drug development process.”
In 2009, Protea has launched a new protein recovery system, the GPR-800, which simultaneously recovers eight intact protein samples in less than 20 minutes. Current technologies require 3-6 hours per sample with lower efficiencies. The system employs proprietary single-use plastic microchips.