SAN DIEGO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 01, 2007 -- Althea Technologies, Inc. and Blueshift Biotechnologies announced today that Althea has received a SBIR award from the National Human Genome Research Institute to explore the potential for practical high throughput and low cost gene expression analysis. The grant proposes the development of gene expression profiling methods that make use of Althea's proprietary strength in multiplexed PCR (XP™-PCR)* methods and Blueshift's IsoCyte™ platform, a high throughput laser scanner adapted from semiconductor inspection technology which provides multicolor fluorescence, anisotropy, and scatter images for high content and object-based multiplexed array formats. The combined technologies may enable implementation of quantitative gene expression profiling in an automated high throughput platform, providing highly specific and quantitative results for as many as 768 samples per minute.
