MS2 Array is pleased to announce that on October 15, 2019 the USPTO granted the company it's second patent, US 10,443,093, "Fluorous Oligonucleotides Microarrays". The issued patent claims the formation of nucleic acid arrays using fluorous partitioning on the MS2 Array capture surface, reaction of the nucleic acids, either before or after immobilization with a biomolecule of interest, then detection of the reaction products by mass spectrometry through direct ionization of the nucleic acids from the MS2 Array capture surface. The company has demonstrated that this screening platform can detect nucleic acid substrates from typical complex reaction solutions at nanomolar concentrations that are otherwise very difficult to detect using mass spectrometry. In addition the company has developed analyte capture and enrichment protocols that are significantly simpler than other immobilization methods that have been described thereby increasing its attractiveness in high throughput screening applications.
The technology platform claimed in this issued patent serves as the foundation of MS2 Array's strategy of using an unbiased bottom-up functional screening approach to small molecule-RNA drug discovery which is in contrast to other strategies based on top-down RNA binding strategies. The issuance of this patent is a critical addition to the MS2 Array as it moves forward with its drug disocvery programs in small molecule targeting of RNA.