Azure Biosystems Celebrates Patent Issuance for CellarisBio’s MICRO-TAG™ Technology Platform Following Successful Validation on Azure Cielo™ qPCR System

Dublin, Calif. – February 17, 2026 – Azure Biosystems, a leading provider of innovative bio-analytical imaging and PCR solutions, today congratulates its partner, CellarisBio, on the official issuance of U.S. Patent US12510537B2, titled “High Throughput Drug Screening Methods.” This landmark patent covers the foundational biochemistry and workflows of the MICRO-TAG®™ technology platform, a breakthrough real-time cellular target engagement system that was extensively validated and optimized using the Azure Cielo™ Real-Time PCR instrument.

The MICRO-TAG platform represents a paradigm shift in drug discovery, enabling researchers to quantify drug-target interactions directly within native cellular environments. Unlike traditional endpoint assays, MICRO-TAG utilizes a novel fluorescence enzyme complementation chemistry (split-RNase S) to provide real-time, temperature-series measurements. This allows for the interrogation of previously “undruggable” targets, including transcription factors and membrane proteins, which have historically eluded standard biophysical methods.

Synergy in High-Performance Analysis

The technical validation of MICRO-TAG® on the Azure Cielo highlights the instrument’s industry-leading thermal stability and optical sensitivity. Because the MICRO-TAG workflow requires precise temperature ramping and high-fidelity fluorescence detection, the Azure Cielo’s fiber-optic design—which eliminates the need for passive reference dyes—proved to be the ideal hardware partner for this innovative chemistry.

“The issuance of this patent is a testament to the transformative potential of the MICRO-TAG® platform,” said Lisa Valdin, VP Marketing of Azure Biosystems. By combining CellarisBio’s sophisticated assay chemistry with our high-performance qPCR hardware, we are providing drug discovery teams with the precision tools needed to unlock the next generation of therapeutics.”

Expanding the Druggable Proteome

Through this collaborative validation, researchers can now utilize the Azure Cielo to perform complex target engagement studies with the MICRO-TAG® platform, including:

• Kinetic Engagement Profiling: Monitoring binding dynamics in real-time to capture residence effects.
• Temperature-Series Analysis: Deriving quantitative metrics across programmable temperature gradients.
• High-Throughput Hit Validation: Accelerating the transition from DNA-encoded libraries (DEL) to lead optimization.

Azure Biosystems and CellarisBio have released a joint technical application note, “Evaluation of CellarisBio MICRO-TAG® Cell Target Engagement Assay On Azure Cielo Real-Time PCR System,” which provides a detailed framework for implementing these assays in modern discovery workflows.