Patents Represented by Attorney Allegra Helfenstein
  • Patent number: 6579718
    Abstract: The present invention describes a variety of substituted and unsubstituted carbazolylvinyl dyes and their use for detecting and quantifying poly(amino acids), including peptides, polypeptides and proteins. The labeled proteins or peptides are highly colored, but are also detected by their strong fluorescence enhancement. Poly(amino acids) are detected in solution, in electrophoretic gels, and on solid supports, including blots and dipsticks. The present method of staining is highly sensitive, extremely facile, and relatively non-selective and can be accomplished without the use of organic solvent additives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2003
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen T. Yue, Thomas H. Steinberg, Wayne F. Patton, Ching-Ying Cheung, Richard P. Haugland
  • Patent number: 6562632
    Abstract: The invention describes reactive dyes having an alkyl spacer attached via a sulfonamide bond to a sulforhodamine 101 fluorophore, and a variety of useful conjugates prepared therefrom. The increased length of the covalent linkage due to the alkyl spacer results in dye-conjugates having a number of surprisingly advantageous properties relative to previous sulforhodamine 101-labeled conjugates, including enhanced solubility and increased fluorescence. The reactive dyes of the present invention are more stable than the known compound sulforhodamine 101 sulfonyl chloride. Novel reactive dyes are described for selective modification of groups other than amines, including thiols and photoreactive derivatives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Wojciech Szalecki, Richard P. Haugland
  • Patent number: 6399392
    Abstract: The quenching compounds of the invention are nitrogen-substituted xanthenes that are substituted by one or more aromatic or heteroaromatic quenching moieties. The quenching compounds of the invention exhibit little or no observable fluorescence and efficiently quench a broad spectrum of luminescent compounds. The chemically reactive quenching compounds possess utility for labeling a wide variety of substances, including biomolecules. These labeled substances are highly useful for a variety of energy-transfer assays and applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard P. Haugland, Victoria L. Singer, Stephen T. Yue
  • Patent number: 6329205
    Abstract: The invention relates to the staining of amine-containing polymers, including including peptides, polypeptides, and proteins, in gels and on solid supports, using complexes of europium (3+).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2001
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhenjun Diwu, Wayne F. Patton
  • Patent number: 6316267
    Abstract: The invention relates to the staining of poly(amino acids), including peptides, polypeptides and proteins in gels and on solid supports, using neutral or anionic complexes of transition metals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Mahesh K. Bhalgat, Zhenjun Diwu, Richard P. Haugland, Wayne F. Patton
  • Patent number: 5453517
    Abstract: The invention relates to fluorescent and/or reactive derivatives of 1,2-bis-(2-aminophenoxyethane)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) according to the formula: ##STR1## where at least one of W and X is a functional group, with or without a spacer, that terminates in an alcohol or phenol, a thiol, a haloacetamide, an alkyl halide, an amine or aniline, a carboxylic acid, an anhydride, an isocyanate, an isothiocyanate, a maleimide, or an activated ester. The BAPTA-like molecule may be further substituted, one or more times, by additional functional groups with or without spacers or by CH.sub.3, NO.sub.2, CF.sub.3, F, Cl, Br, I, or carboxylic acid derivatives or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, or by indolyl or benzofuran fluorophores. The functional groups allow for subsequent covalent attachment of one or more oxygen heterocycle fluorophores (e.g. fluorescein, coumarin, rhodamine); or polymolecular assemblies (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 26, 1995
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Kuhn, Richard P. Haugland
  • Patent number: 5187288
    Abstract: This invention relates to ethenyl-substituted derivatives of dipyrrometheneboron difluoride dyes that have an absorption maximum at wavelengths longer than about 525 nm, and are electrically neutral, highly photostable and, in most cases, highly fluorescent with relatively narrow absorption and emission spectra. The ethenyl-substituted dyes generally have the structure: ##STR1## wherein at least one of the fluorophore substituents R.sub.1 -R.sub.7, is an ethenyl group of the formula --CX.sub.m .dbd.CY.sub.m --Z.sub.m, where m is any combination of locations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 corresponding to the location of parent fluorophore substituents R.sub.1-7. The initial ethenyl substituents X.sub.m, Y.sub.m, and Z.sub.m, which may be the same or different, are halogen, alkyl (containing 1-10 carbon atoms), cyano, ester, amide, ethenyl or polyethenyl, aryl or heteroaryl.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1991
    Date of Patent: February 16, 1993
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Hee C. Kang, Richard P. Haugland
  • Patent number: RE38723
    Abstract: The subject invention provides substrates useful for analyzing the metabolic activity in cells by improving the retention of a detectable reporter molecule only in intact cells where a particular enzyme is present. In particular, improved retention results from a two part process involving conjugation of haloalkyl-substituted derivatives of a reporter molecule with intracellular cysteine-containing peptides while unblocking the reporter molecule. The substrates have the form XR-SPACER-REPORTER-BLOCK wherein -BLOCK is a group selected to be removable by action of a specific analyte, to give REPORTER spectral properties different from those of the substrate, -REPORTER- is a molecule that, when no longer bound to BLOCK by a BLOCK-REPORTER bond, has spectral properties different from those of the substrate, -SPACER- is a covalent linkage, and XR- is a haloalkyl moiety that can covalently react with an intracellular thiol (Z-S-H) to form a thioether conjugate (Z-S-R).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: Molecular Probes, Inc.
    Inventors: Fei Mao, Ram Sabnis, John Naleway, Nels Olson, Richard P. Haugland