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Cambridge Research and Instrumentation Inc. (CRI), of Woburn, Mass., won the top award for basic science abstracts at the Annual Conference of the Academy of Molecular Imaging, held in March in Orlando, for its work in molecular imaging solutions for life science research and preclinical drug discovery. The abstract, "Hardware and Software for Optimized Multispectral Imaging In Vivo," was co-authored by Richard Levenson, James R. Mansfield and Kirk W. Gossage. CRI's Maestro in-vivo fluorescence imaging system was used in the research; the company said the system enables researchers to take images of and quantify multiple fluorophores simultaneously, even in challenging samples. CRI uses liquid crystal technology to develop systems and components for instruments that are used in areas such as medicine, life sciences and industrial process control. The technology uses multispectral and polarized light for higher resolution in imaging and in detecting items such as malignant cells in tissue. . . . Nanogen Inc. was recently issued European Patent No. 0943158B1, "Affinity Based Self-Assembly Systems and Devices for Photonic and Electronic Applications" (which it said is similar to US Patent 6,652,808, issued in December 2003), involving nanofabrication technology that combines an electric field-assisted manufacturing platform and programmable self-assembling nanostructures (for example, DNA building blocks) for the fabrication of nanoscale and microscale devices, structures and materials. The new patent is jointly owned by Nanotronics Inc., a subsidiary of Nanogen, and the Regents of the University of California. Nanogen, which is based in San Diego, has exclusively licensed the interests of the University of California where there is joint inventorship.