The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of allowance for patent 8,936,921 for the Great Basin Scientific's method of isothermal helicase-dependent amplification (HDA) using blocked primers (bp), or "bpHDA."

bpHDA creates a highly specific "hot-start" functionality which increases the amplification speed, improves assay sensitivity and expands multiplex capabilities of Great Basin's sample-to-result molecular diagnostic testing technology. bpHDA is the basis of the company's Clostridium difficile (C. diff) molecular diagnostic test assay.

This newly issued patent further enhances the company's patent family, which includes US patent 8,637,250 (issued Jan. 28, 2014) for systems and methods for point-of-care amplification and detection of polynucleotides covering isothermal amplification using HDA on the surface of chips. This patent permits future simplification of Great Basin's chip technology which would further lower costs, increase speed, and potentially allow for a field-deployable approach for molecular diagnostics. US patent 8,574,833 (issued on Nov. 5, 2013) covers methods and compositions for amplifying a detectable signal. The method, termed AMPED, is a cost-effective approach for direct detection of pathogens present in clinical samples such as blood, lung aspirates, urine, stool and swabs at low levels without the requirement of PCR-based target amplification.  Great Basin asserts that by eliminating the amplification step used in other methods, their technology has the potential to provide faster results at a lower cost.

"We believe that with these patents, Great Basin offers a platform for molecular diagnostics unlike any currently available system," said Ryan Ashton, co-founder and chief executive officer of Great Basin. "Using one system, our technology is capable of answering both the 'What is it?' question, answered by a low-cost, low-plex assay, and the 'What is causing it?' question, identified by a multi-plex panel. We contend this will allow hospital labs to invest in fewer systems while providing more answers with an easy-to-use and cost effective system."

Great Basin Scientific is a molecular diagnostics company that commercializes breakthrough chip-based technologies.  The company is dedicated to the development of simple, yet powerful, sample-to-result technology and products that provide fast, multiple-pathogen diagnoses of infectious diseases.