(Reuters) - Shares of VeriChip Corp (CHIP.O) tripled after the company said it had been granted an exclusive license to two patents, which will help it to develop implantable virus detection systems in humans.
The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can detect the H1N1 and other viruses, and biological threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VeriChip said in a statement.
The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems.
The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the agent as virus or non-virus, the second level will classify the virus and alert the user to the presence of pandemic threat viruses and the third level will identify the precise pathogen, VeriChip said in a white paper published May 7, 2009.
Shares of VeriChip were up 186 percent at $3.28 Monday late afternoon trade on Nasdaq. They had touched a year high of $3.43 earlier in the session.
(Reporting by Mansi Dutta in Bangalore; Editing by Mike Miller and Anil D'Silva)
Hitachi’s new RFID chips (pictured on right, next to a human hair) are 64 times smaller than their mu-chips (left)
RFID keeps getting smaller. On February 13, Hitachi unveiled a tiny, new “powder” type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm — the smallest yet — which they aim to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years (Information from 2007!!!).
By relying on semiconductor miniaturization technology and using electron beams to write data on the chip substrates, Hitachi was able to create RFID chips 64 times smaller than their currently available 0.4 x 0.4 mm mu-chips. Like mu-chips, which have been used as an anti-counterfeit measure in admission tickets, the new chips have a 128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38-digit ID number.
The new chips are also 9 times smaller than the prototype chips Hitachi unveiled last year, which measure 0.15 x 0.15 mm.
At 5 microns thick, the RFID chips can more easily be embedded in sheets of paper, meaning they can be used in paper currency, gift certificates and identification. But since existing tags are already small enough to embed in paper, it leads one to wonder what new applications the developers have in mind.
Yes, we've been using them in pharmaceuticals and high-end nutraceuticals for several years now as an anti-counterfitting measure. Most people are carrying a few dozen of them in the layer of undigested food clinging to the inside of their intestines. If you take a dozen or more dietary supplements a day, you could easily have thousands of them. Not to worry though, they're completely safe. Semiconductor-grade silicon is one of the purest and safest substances on Earth.
>Yes, we've been using them in pharmaceuticals and >high-end nutraceuticals for several years now >as an anti-counterfitting measure. Most people >are carrying a few dozen of them in the layer >of undigested food clinging to the inside of their >intestines. If you take a dozen or more dietary >supplements a day, you could easily have thousands >of them. Not to worry though, they're completely >safe. Semiconductor-grade silicon is one of the >purest and safest substances on Earth.
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