ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,256, issued on July 15, was assigned to ILLUMINA INC. (San Diego).

"Circulating RNA signatures specific to preeclampsia" was invented by Sarah E. Shultzaberger (San Diego), Fiona Kaper (San Diego), Sarah Kinnings (San Diego), Suzanne Rohrback (San Diego) and Carlo Randise-Hinchliff (San Diego).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention includes methods and materials for use in the detection preeclampsia and/or determining an increased risk for preeclampsia in a pregnant female, the method including identifying in a biosample obtained from the pregnant women a plurality of circulating RNA (C-RNA) molecules."

The patent was f...