Nanogen Funding Advances Nanotech Research

“This agreement allows us to support the pioneering work of Dr. Heller and the University,” said Howard Birndorf, chairman and chief executive officer of Nanogen, Inc., who further stated his belief that, “Nanotechnology applications will be the key to future advances in medical research. We believe that development of nanotechnology will enable highly sophisticated, cost efficient point-of-care diagnostics.”

“I am very pleased that Nanogen has agreed to provide this two-year funding to support the nanotechnology research of Dr. Michael Heller,” said Shu Chien, M.D., Ph.D., chair of UCSD’s Department of Bioengineering, professor of Bioengineering and Medicine, and director of the Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering. “The Department of Bioengineering is interested in fostering innovative research that can be translated to industrial or clinical applications. Dr. Heller is doing cutting-edge research that will advance our knowledge in the frontier areas of nanotechnology and nanofabrication, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of this academia-industry partnership, which will generate significant knowledge in science and valuable benefits to people.”

Dr. Heller’s ongoing research is based on Nanogen’s electric field-based technology to demonstrate the application of this unique platform in nanofabrication of precision nanoparticles. Nanogen’s patent portfolio currently includes over forty U.S. patents and patent applications based on intellectual property developed by Dr. Heller; over ten of those relate to work on nanofabrication he conducted while he was employed by the company. Nanogen will have a priority position to obtain any intellectual property rights developed under this current research agreement with UCSD.