31 March 2015 - - The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of allowance for a patent covering US-based molecular diagnostics company Great Basin Scientific, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GBSN ) method of isothermal helicase-dependent amplification using blocked primers, or "bpHDA," the company said on Tuesday. According to Great Basin, bpHDA creates a highly specific "hot-start" functionality which increases the amplification speed, improves assay sensitivity and expands multiplex capabilities of the company's sample-to-result molecular diagnostic testing technology. BpHDA is the basis of the company's Clostridium difficile (C. diff) molecular diagnostic test assay. This newly issued patent further enhances the company's patent family, which includes US patent 8,637,250 (issued Jan. 28, 2014) for systems and methods for point-of-care amplification and detection of polynucleotides covering isothermal amplification using HDA on the surface of chips. It permits future simplification of Great Basin's chip technology which would further lower costs, increase speed, and potentially allow for a field-deployable approach for molecular diagnostics. US patent 8,574,833 (issued on Nov. 5, 2013) covers methods and compositions for amplifying a detectable signal. The method, termed AMPED, is a cost-effective approach for direct detection of pathogens present in clinical samples such as blood, lung aspirates, urine, stool and swabs at low levels without the requirement of PCR-based target amplification. Great Basin Scientific commercialises chip-based technologies. The company is focused on the development of sample-to-result technology and products that provide fast, multiple-pathogen diagnoses of infectious diseases.