NanoLight TechnologyTM

NanoLight Technologies is a division of Prolume Ltd., a biotechnology company developing broad applications of natural, light-emitting marine proteins, or marine bioluminescence. The NanoLight division is focused on becoming the leader in high-value reagent & reporter systems for new product development in the pharmaceutical, agrichemical, and research products industries.

Valuable life science uses for NanoLight’s technology include high-throughput drug discovery, functional genomics, tumor imaging, replacement of radioisotopes, and molecular diagnostics. One particularly exciting application is the ability to use NanoLight’s reporter systems to “illuminate” gene and molecular function within living cells, allowing pharmaceutical companies a revolutionary method to study drug activity. A second opportunity is to broadly supply researchers who are increasingly moving away from radioactive reagents and toward light-based reporter systems and instruments. NanoLight Technologies is poised to capitalize on both of these accelerating market trends.

NanoLight’s competitive advantage is based on three crucial proprietary positions:

Access to the novel bioluminescent and fluorescent protein molecules.
World’s lowest-cost production technology for coelenterazine (NanoFuel™), necessary for light emission.
World's largest collection of expression libraries from marine bioluminescent organisms.

These proprietary technologies, which NanoLight has already developed or protected by patent filings & trade secrets, permit the company to grow into the dominant supplier of proprietary bioluminescent reagent and reporter systems to the life science markets. NanoLight can immediately provide partners access to:

Novel GFP genes isolated from Ptilsarcus gurneyi and Renilla mullerei with distinctive properties including a novel chromophore sequence that differs in 3 of 6 residues from the Aequorea GFP.
Novel marine luciferases cloned from Renilla Mullerei, Pleuromama sp., and Gaussia sp., the latter appears to be brighter than existing Renilla or firefly systems in mammalian cells.
Pending patents on the novel use of bioluminescent proteins on silicon chips for inexpensive high throughput screening and diagnostic applications.
cDNA libraries from over forty (40) different luminescent organisms for further gene discovery patenting, and licensing.
Proprietary functional screening methods to identify new bioluminescent genes.

This enormous genetic resource represents an outstanding opportunity for leading life sciences companies racing to establish advanced high-throughput screening and diagnostic systems.

For information regarding NanoLight Proteins - click here

Brief Background on Bioluminescence
Three classes of proteins from bioluminescent organisms have distinctive properties useful for high-throughput screens and a variety of research applications.

Marine luciferases catalyze the oxidation of coelenterazine, and produce light as a byproduct of this reaction. Unlike first-generation firefly luciferase systems, these coelenterazine-based luciferases (NanoLight™) do not require accessory high energy molecules such as ATP, simplifying their use in a number of reporter applications.

Photoproteins are pre-charged with coelenterazine and molecular oxygen— when oxidation is triggered by calcium, a flash of light occurs (NanoFlash™).

Green fluorescent proteins (NanoFluor™) intrinsically fluoresce as a result of a unique peptide-derived chromophore that self-assembles after translation. GFPs’ ability to shift the wavelength of luciferase or photoprotein from blue to green allows, among other uses, whole cell studies of gene expression and the visualization of drug-target interactions over time & at variable dosages

Our unique GFP and luciferase properties enabled company scientists to obtain a Phase I SBIR to evaluate the feasibility of BRET (bioluminescent energy transfer) for use as a novel class of biosensors. BRET is potentially a broadly applicable enabling technology for HTS, medical diagnostics, and basic research. Its singular advantage is that it provides both spatial and orientation information when a binding or proximity event occurs.

The Opportunity
NanoLight believes the drug and agrichemical industries are only beginning to harness the power of bioluminescence in their screening and discovery efforts.

Since most of the visible spectrum measurable by standard luminometers remains available for exploitation, NanoLight—with its comprehensive DNA libraries— is well-positioned to develop bioluminescent reporter systems and then “franchise” these additional wavelengths to allow unprecedented, simultaneous high-throughput functional studies. By accessing NanoLight’s bioluminescent technology, leading life science companies move closer to dominant patent positions for new drugs, pesticides, and diagnostic systems.

For more information or a confidential discussion, please contact:

Bruce Bryan, MD
P.O. Box 2746
Pinetop, AZ 15238
(Phone) 928-367-1200
(Fax) 928-367-1205
e-mail: bruce@prolume.com