BASF Venture Capital invests in German biotechnology company baseclick

Group of investors invests €1.2 million

07-Sep-2011 - Germany

baseclick GmbH, a spin-off from BASF SE and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, raised an additional €1.2 million from private investors and BASF Venture Capital, the largest single investor, in the second round of financing. The start-up company baseclick GmbH, founded in the year 2008, is located in Tutzing, Germany, and holds technology patents in labeling processes of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) .

“We will use the capital raised to expand our existing activities in DNA-technologies,” says Dr. Thomas Frischmuth, General Manager of baseclick GmbH. In addition, the company will build up a business for diagnostic technologies.

The baseclick technology allows users to label multiple dye molecules on DNA strands in a sequence-specific manner. This process is more efficient, more cost effective and simpler than conventional technologies. The attachment of multiple dyes enables several or highly complex analyses to be carried out in a single operation. Applications include analyses for pathogens like HIV, hepatitis, or even tumor cells. The technique can also be used to detect mutations in human, animal and plant genomes.

The baseclick technology is based on click chemistry research by Professor Barry Sharpless (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2001) of The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California. Professor Thomas Carell of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany, has advanced the technology so that nucleic acids can be modified. baseclick GmbH has obtained a worldwide license from The Scripps Research Institute to practice click chemistry in its field of research.

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