biomodal, a company specialising in multiomic and enzyme-based life-science technologies, has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Watchmaker Genomics in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, according to filings announced. The complaint seeks financial damages and injunctive relief to prevent Watchmaker from making or commercialising its TAPS+ product, which biomodal alleges infringes patents exclusively licensed from Boston Children’s Hospital through Children’s Medical Center Corporation.
The dispute centres on a set of patents arising from work by immunologist Anjana Rao and colleagues. The patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 12,018,320 and 12,291,742) cover applications of ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes in the detection of DNA cytosine modifications, including methylation (5mC) and hydroxymethylation (5hmC). These epigenetic marks are central to regulatory genomics and are increasingly important in research spanning oncology, neuroscience, developmental biology, and cell-state mapping.
biomodal incorporates the Rao-licensed technology across its enzymatic platforms and multiomic sequencing products. Its offerings include the duet evoC technology, which integrates conventional four-base sequencing with the discrimination of 5mC and 5hmC at single-molecule resolution, and duet +modC, which generates what the company terms a 5-base genome by revealing both genetic sequence and cytosine methylation states.
In a statement, biomodal CEO Peter Fromen referenced a recent claim-construction decision in separate litigation involving New England Biolabs (NEB), noting that the court’s interpretation affirmed what he described as the seminal nature of the Rao inventions and the breadth of the asserted TET-enzyme claims.
The favourable outcome of the claim construction hearing in our parallel litigation against NEB confirmed the seminal nature of Professor Rao’s inventions and the broad interpretation of the claims to the use of TET. We will continue to vigorously protect our IP rights, while safeguarding our customers’ access to differentiated, comprehensive solutions that integrate assays and software to deliver unparalleled insights into biological systems.
Peter Fromen, CEO of biomodal