A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Falcon Genomics (Pittsburgh) reported that it has received U.S. patent No. 7,537,913, with claims covering the company's Cancer BioChip System (CBCS) for the identification and validation of potential cancer targets in a high-throughput in vitro setting with great clinical translational potential.

The patent claims are supported by experimental validation with human breast cancer cells using Falcon Genomics' first-generation Cancer BioChip System (CBC-1). These results represent the first reported use of high-throughput one-step delivery of silencing RNA (siRNA) into cells growing in an anchorage-independent manner with real-time evaluation of cell growth.

"Cancer is analogous to a physiological train-wreck. It only takes a small number of defective signals to trigger the multitudes of abnormal molecular profiles observed within cancer cells. Triggering molecules are the ones that must be targeted for therapy," said Dr. Rula Abbud-Antaki, president/CSO of Falcon Genomics. "Our proprietary technology will provide personalized identification of cancer- initiating events, and formulation of efficient and accurate therapies."

Falcon Genomics is a private biotech company which is developing functional genomics, for the accurate diagnosis of cancer patients and the personalized formulation of therapeutic strategies.