Asuragen, Inc. Announces New Notice of Allowance from USPTO Related to the Use of a miRNA as a Normalizer for miRNA Gene Expression Analysis

Asuragen, Inc., a leader in the development of molecular diagnostics, announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for claims related to the use of miRNAs as normalizers in gene expression studies. Data normalization is necessary to control for sample variability that can adversely affect the accurate quantification of gene expression. Improper normalization can affect the magnitude and even the direction (up or down) of change in miRNA gene expression in diseased clinical samples, such as tumor specimens, and is critical for the development of robust and reliable research and diagnostic assays. Normalization methods currently in use have significant shortcomings, especially for analyzing small differences in miRNA expression that are biologically meaningful and can occur between diseased and normal samples.