ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,428,670, issued on Sept. 30, was assigned to Guardant Health Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.).

"Methods and systems for analyzing nucleic acid molecules" was invented by Andrew Kennedy (San Diego), Stefanie Ann Ward Mortimer (Morgan Hill, Calif.), Helmy Eltoukhy (Atherton, Calif.), AmirAli Talasaz (Atherton, Calif.) and Diana Abdueva (Orinda, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The disclosure provides methods for processing nucleic acid populations containing different forms (e.g., RNA and DNA, single-stranded or double-stranded) and/or extents of modification (e.g., cytosine methylation, association with proteins). These methods accommodate ...