Overview

Commonwealth Biotechnologies Inc. is a contract research organization that performs high-throughput DNA sequence analysis, peptide and DNA synthesis, protein sequencing and amino acid analysis. It said it offers "cutting-edge expertise and a complete array of the most current analytical and synthetic chemistries and biophysical technologies, many of which are not available from any other source."

Commonwealth Biotechnologies became a public company in October 1997. In May 2001, Commonwealth Biotechnologies settled its patent dispute with Applied Biosystems Group, of Foster City, Calif., with both parties dismissing their claims against each other. Applied Biosystems received a license to access products that use CBI's patented DNA lane tracking technology for automated DNA sequencing. Other terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.

Partners

The company has been tapped by government agencies to provide detailed DNA analysis of human pathogenic organisms that may play a role in bioterrorist attacks. Also, it has a collaboration with November AG, of Erlangen, Germany, to develop electrohybridization technologies to detect microbial contaminants in water and soil.