HEKA Elektronik and The City University of New York Announce License Agreement
HEKA to commercialize the BRODERICK PROBE® biosensor developed in a CUNY laboratory
Chester, NS, Canada, and New York City, NY, USA – HEKA Elektronik and the City University of New York (CUNY) today announced that they have entered into a license agreement for the commercialization of the BRODERICK PROBE®. The BRODERICK PROBE® is a biosensor that enables direct, electrochemical monitoring of the release of dopamine, serotonin and a number of other neuro-active substances. These substances play a crucial role in understanding the function of the central nervous system, and changes in their release pattern may be a cause or a symptom in many disorders.
The BRODERICK PROBE® biosensor can be used to measure the concentration of neurochemicals in intact animals or human subjects, or in tissue slices. It has been demonstrated to outperform established techniques in specificity, sensitivity and durability of the measurements. Long-term studies with this miniature biosensor, implanted for up to seven months, did not reveal any evidence of scar formation or degradation in its performance. “Finally it is the researcher who determines the duration of an experiment, not limitations of the technique,” said Dr. Patricia Broderick, the inventor of the probe, which she named after her late father.
Based on work performed in her own lab at CUNY and in collaboration with other researchers, Dr. Broderick has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in research areas as diverse as schizophrenia, drug addiction, Parkinson’s disease, brain injury and stroke. “I have talked to quite a number of researchers in these fields,” said Jan Dolzer, PhD, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at HEKA, “and everyone was excited about the possibility to directly measure neuro-active substances and monitor the time course of their release in long-term experiments. The experimental designs are there, just waiting for technology powerful enough to realize them. And that is what we have here.”
As a complement to HEKA’s existing line of electrochemistry amplifiers, potentiostats and galvanostats, the BRODERICK PROBE® is expected to help further the understanding of diseases that still have a major impact on man. HEKA Elektronik’s CEO, Dr. Peter Schulze, sees challenging and interesting developments ahead: “The BRODERICK PROBE® works straight out of the box with our potentiostats and software, but I am convinced that a dedicated, focused recording system using our technology will even better serve the needs of biomedical researchers,” he said. A system based on the existing components will be tested in collaboration with several laboratories in the near future. “CUNY is excited to work with HEKA and is looking forward to assisting in the commercialization of this promising technology for the benefit of patients,” said Douglas Adams, Acting Director of the Technology Commercialization Office.
About HEKA Elektronik:
HEKA Elektronik is a privately owned organization with offices in Nova Scotia, Canada (HEKA Electronics Inc.), Lambrecht/Pfalz, Germany (HEKA Elektronik Dr. Schulze GmbH) and on Long Island, New York in the United States (HEKA Instruments Inc.). For over forty years, HEKA has been one of the market leaders in the field of patch clamp electrophysiology instrumentation and software, and a major player in electrochemistry products. Recent projects include a family of advanced scanning electrochemistry Microscopes, the ElProScan, and a system to monitor release of neuroactive substances in situ.
About The City University of New York (CUNY):
The City University of New York is the nation’s leading urban public university. Founded in New York City in 1847, the University is comprised of 24 institutions: 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, the CUNY Graduate School and University Center, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the CUNY School of Law, the CUNY School of Professional Studies and the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College. The University serves more than 269,000 degree credit students and 218,083 adult, continuing and professional education students. College Now, the University’s academic enrichment program, is offered at CUNY campuses and more than 300 high schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The University offers online baccalaureate degrees through the School of Professional Studies and an individualized baccalaureate through the CUNY Baccalaureate Degree. Nearly 3 million unique visitors and 10 million page views are served each month via www.cuny.edu , the University’s website.
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brain injury- Contact Information
- Jan Dolzer, PhD
- Vice President Sales and Marketing
- HEKA Electronics
- (1) 902-624-0606
- marketing@heka.com
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