Oxford Nanopore to open registration for MinION

RNS Number : 1818R

IP Group PLC

23 October 2013

 



FOR RELEASE ON

23 October 2013

IP Group plc - Portfolio company Oxford Nanopore to open registration for its 'MinION' Access Programme

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses, is pleased to note that portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited ("Oxford Nanopore" or "the Company"), has today announced that it is opening registration for its 'MinION Access Programme' ("MAP") in late November.

Oxford Nanopore, a spin-out company from the University of Oxford that specialises in nanopore-based electronic molecular analysis systems, describes the programme as a "substantial but initially controlled programme designed to give life science researchers access to nanopore sequencing technology at no risk and minimal cost."

The Company comments that a substantial number of selected participants will receive a MinION Access Programme package which will include at least one complete MinION system (device, flowcells and software tools). MAP participants will be asked to pay a refundable $1,000 deposit on the MinION USB device plus shipping and Oxford Nanopore will provide a regular baseline supply of flowcells sufficient to allow frequent usage of the system. MAP participants will ONLY pay shipping costs on these flowcells. Any additional flowcells required at the participants' discretion may be available for purchase at a MAP-only price of $999 each plus shipping and taxes. Oxford Nanopore will provide Sequencing Preparation Kits. MAP participants may choose to develop their own sample preparation and analysis methods; however, at this stage on an unsupported basis.

Oxford Nanopore, which is currently exhibiting at the American Society of Human Genetics ("ASHG") conference in Boston, USA, provides further details of the MAP programme on its website at www.nanoporetech.com. (To be kept informed of the opening of the registration programme, visit the contact page and select the box marked 'Keep me informed on the MinION Access Programme'.)

In a statement on its website, Oxford Nanopore comments: "MAP participants will be at the forefront of applying a completely novel, long-read, real-time sequencing system to existing and new application areas. MAP participants will gain hands-on understanding of the MinION technology, its capabilities and features. They will also play an active role in assessing and developing the system over time. Oxford Nanopore believes that any life science researcher can and should be able to exploit MinION in their own work.  Accordingly, Oxford Nanopore is accepting applications for MAP participation from all."

While Oxford Nanopore is not providing any further guidance at this time, interested parties are advised to follow community reaction during the course of the ASHG conference on social media channels.

Earlier this month, Oxford Nanopore announced it had raised £40 million in new funding via a private placement of ordinary shares, bringing the total funds raised by Oxford Nanopore since its foundation to £145 million. IP Group has a 19.6% undiluted beneficial stake in Oxford Nanopore, valued at £104.3 million.

For more information, please contact:

IP Group plc	www.ipgroupplc.com
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications	[phone] / [phone] [e-mail]
FTI Consulting (for IP Group)
Ben  Atwell, John Dineen	[phone]
Oxford Nanopore	www.nanoporetech.com
Zoe McDougall, Communications	[phone] x2013 [e-mail]

Notes for editors

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading UK intellectual property ("IP") commercialisation company, developing technology innovations primarily from its research intensive partner universities. The Group offers more than traditional venture capital, providing its companies with access to business building expertise, networks, recruitment and business support.

The Company's portfolio comprises holdings in over 70 companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing development company, Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum and Xeros, which has received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing techniques with a much reduced requirement for water.

The portfolio includes early stage to mature businesses and has exposure to five main sectors - Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies, Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date, fifteen of the portfolio companies IP Group has backed have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and one on ISDX.

Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

About Oxford Nanopore

Oxford Nanopore Technologies® is developing a new generation of nanopore-based electronic systems for analysis of single molecules including DNA, RNA and proteins.  The GridION™ system and miniaturised MinION™ device are designed  to provide novel qualities in molecular sensing such as real-time data streaming, improved simplicity, efficiency and scalability of workflows and direct analysis of the molecule of interest.  The devices may be used use in scientific research, personalised medicine, crop science, security & defence and environmental applications.

Oxford Nanopore has licensed or owns more than 350 patents and patent applications that relate to many aspects of nanopore sensing from protein nanopores to solid state nanopores and for the analysis of DNA, proteins and other molecules. This includes the use of functionalised solid-state nanopores for molecular characterisation, methods of fabricating solid-state nanopores and modifications of solid-state nanopores to adjust sensitivity or other parameters.

www.nanoporetech.com

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