Intellectual property

Oxford Nanopore has a broad patent portfolio, through in-house development and licensing agreements with third parties. Oxford Nanopore has an intellectual property portfolio of more than 2,600 issued patents and patent applications, in over 260 patent families. These cover all aspects of nanopore sensing including fundamental patents for nanopore sensing, and patents relating to DNA-sequencing.

Oxford Nanopore is developing a platform technology that may be adapted with a variety of nanopore sensors for the analysis of different molecules. The IP portfolio reflects the broad range of expertise and active R&D projects that are in progress at Oxford Nanopore and supported research within the laboratories of our academic collaborators. These projects include the development of nanopore DNA-sequencing technology, protein analysis, and the development of solid-state nanopores including graphene.

Between the Company’s foundation in 2005 and 2008, Oxford Nanopore established a range of exclusive licensing agreements and collaborations with the world’s leading researchers in Nanopore sensing. These included Oxford University Innovation, Harvard University, UMASS, Boston University, Texas A&M and University of California, Santa Cruz. The full range of agreements now includes Brown University, Cambridge University, Illinois University, Stanford University, VIB and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, University College of London, University of Michigan, University of Massachusetts, The Ohio State University, Yissum R&D Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Southampton.

The following themes are included in Oxford Nanopore's patent portfolio:

• Engineered protein and solid state nanopores for sensing of analytes and for the sequence determination of polynucleotides and polypeptides 
• Molecular motors for the control of translocation of polynucleotide and polypeptide analytes through a nanopore
• Sample preparation methods and kits for the optimised delivery of analytes for nanopore sensing 
• Methods for direct RNA sequencing
• Single cell nucleic acid detection and analysis
• Nanopore array platforms and methods of preparation of solid state and protein nanopore arrays  
• Electronic circuits for enhanced signal processing 
• Algorithms for sequence determination and for the direct identification of modified nucleobases
• Adaptive sampling of analytes
• Automated electrowetting sample preparation and sequencing platforms 
• Sample preparation methods and kits for diagnostic applications
• Enzymatic methods of polynucleotide synthesis