CellMosaic receives Notice of Allowance for NeIon™ Technologies.

Posted by Yumei Huang on 25th Mar 2016

Woburn, MA, March 24, 2016 – CellMosaic announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the Notice of Allowance for all claims filed in Sept. 2015 (Application No. 14/779,805; Trifluoroborate mass spectrometric tags) regarding NeIon™ technologies. The invention provides compositions and methods for mass spectrometry (MS), synthesis, and applications of organo-trifluoroborate as mass tags for use in negative ion mode.

“This again proves that CellMosaic can lead innovations in the field of chemical biology, particularly in the field of chemical labeling and bioconjugation. Despite the small size of the company, CellMosaic has filed various patent applications, ranging from novel hydrophilic linkers/polymers for drug conjugation and delivery, photo-crosslinking compounds, and methods for studying transient protein-protein interactions, to novel compounds and methods for detecting and quantitating trace amounts of analytes of interest,” said Dr. Yumei Huang, founder and CEO of CellMosaic. “We will continue to innovate and solve the unmet challenges in life sciences using chemical biological approaches.”

About NeIon™ technologies

NeIon™ technologies use specifically designed organo-trifluoroborates, with the general formula [RBF3], compounds to label analytes of interest and improve their detection sensitivities in the negative ion mode in MS. NeIon™ technologies also offer a way to quantitate trace amounts of analytes of interest.

Negative ion mode usually provides a much cleaner MS profile than positive ion mode. However, only a handful of compounds can be detected in negative ion mode due to a lack of electronegative groups or functionalities. For example, carboxylic, phosphoric, or sulfonic functional groups can be ionized under basic conditions to produce negatively charged species, but the degree of ionization is highly dependent on the pH of the media. MS analysis under basic conditions has drawbacks, including limited variety and stability of volatile buffers and the instability of reversed phase HPLC columns under basic conditions. Because of the formal negative charge on the trifluoroborate group, organo-trifluoroborates can be readily detected with enhanced sensitivity in negative ion mode MS analysis. The formal negative charge on organo-trifluoroborates is not affected by the pH of the media, and such compounds are stable under ambient conditions and in the presence of water. Unlike borates, organo-trifluoroborates remain monomeric species at any practical concentration range, making MS analysis less complicated.

NeIon™ technologies take advantage of the predictable fragmentation properties of organo-trifluoroborate compounds and offer a sensitive and quantitative way to analyze any analyte of interest. This will open up new windows of opportunities for MS-analysis in negative mode.

About CellMosaic, Inc.

CellMosaic, Inc. is an innovator and leader in bioconjugation and crosslinking technologies. In addition to NeIon™ technologies, several other key technologies are being developed at CellMosaic, including oxLink™ technologies for studying protein–protein interactions; superhydrophilic AqueaTether™ linkers for clean conjugation of antibody/protein/peptide/oligo with small molecule drugs; biocompatible, biodegradable, mono-dispersed AqueaTether™ macromolecules for modification of protein/peptide/oligo drugs and preparation of highly loaded small molecule drugs for better delivery; and bioconjugation platform technologies involving screening, labeling/crosslinking, purification, and analysis of any bioconjugate. The company is also actively engaged in serving biological communities by providing custom synthesis of high quality bioconjugate products. Partnerships and licensing options are available for developing AqueaTether™-based bioconjugate drugs. For more information, please contact Yumei Huang, President & CEO at yhuang@cellmosaic.com or 781-463-0002.