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Bothell Company Receives Federal Grant for DNA Research

10 September 2004

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01) announced today that Bothell-based Blue Heron Biotechnology, Inc. has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant in the amount of $137,910. Blue Heron Biotechnology will apply the grant to fund research to develop a "universal" restriction enzyme system.

Said Inslee, "I have witnessed first hand the innovative and beneficial work being conducted by the folks at Blue Heron Biotechnology. It is wonderful that the federal government recognizes the importance of their gene synthesis research. This SBIR grant is great news for efforts to understand the power of the human genome, including research that could cure debilitating diseases. This funding will allow Blue Heron Bio to continue cutting edge experiments that benefit human health and knowledge of our genetic makeup."

Dr. John Mulligan, President and CEO of Blue Heron Biotechnology, stated, "The SBIR program has allowed Blue Heron Bio to develop a set of exciting new technologies that could revolutionize the way scientists approach biological problems. The universal cutter technology that is the focus of this grant will have broad applications in molecular biology while also pushing our gene synthesis platform into the realm of very large genes and whole genome synthesis. We are very excited about the potential results from this new grant and the progress on our existing SBIR grants."

The goal of the grant is to develop a uniform method for assembling large DNA molecules by ligation of sticky-ended fragments, regardless of the sequence, the fragment length, or the presence of restriction sites. If successful, it will enable the use of restriction digestion to release any cloned fragment and allow complete control of the sticky ends on these fragments. This "universal cutter" will support the reliable assembly of DNA fragments of 100,000 base pairs or larger and allow Blue Heron Bio to extend its GeneMaker® gene synthesis service to include large genomic DNA fragments and bacterial genomes. Moreover, the technology will increase GeneMaker’s efficiency for the shorter genes, e.g., 1,000 to 5,000 base pairs, which most researchers study.

Blue Heron Biotechnology, Inc., a leading provider of gene synthesis services, was founded in 1999 to accelerate discovery research by industrializing the manufacture of custom reagents. Blue Heron Bio’s proprietary GeneMaker® synthesizes any gene, regardless of sequence or size with 100% accuracy guaranteed. Today, hundreds of researchers from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as academic and government laboratories buy synthetic genes from Blue Heron Bio.