Wednesday, 20 April 2011

micro array technology

DNA microarray analysis is one of the fastest-growing new technologies in the field of genetic research. Scientists are using

DNA microarrays to investigate everything from cancer to pest control. Now you can do your own DNA microarray experiment!

Here you will use a DNA microarray to investigate the differences between a healthy cell and a cancer cell.

Genomics refers to the comprehensive study of genes and their function. Recent advances in bioinformatics and high-throughput

technologies such as microarray analysis are bringing about a revolution in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms

underlying normal and dysfunctional biological processes. Microarray studies and other genomic techniques are also

stimulating the discovery of new targets for the treatment of disease which is aiding drug development, immunotherapeutics

and gene therapy. In this site, we have compiled an extensive list of resources to assist reseachers interested in

establishing a microarray platform and performing expression profiling experiments.

Gene expression profiling or microarray analysis has enabled the measurement of thousands of genes in a single RNA sample.

There are a variety of microarray platforms that have been developed to accomplish this and the basic idea for each is

simple: a glass slide or membrane is spotted or "arrayed" with DNA fragments or oligonucleotides that represent specific gene

coding regions. Purified RNA is then fluorescently- or radioactively labeled and hybridized to the slide/membrane. In some

cases, hybridization is done simultaneously with reference RNA to facilitate comparison of data across multiple experiments.

After thorough washing, the raw data is obtained by laser scanning or autoradiographic imaging . At this point, the data may

then be entered into a database and analyzed by a number of statistical methods.

A number of issues must be addressed before establishing a microarray platform and beginning expression profiling studies, in

particular, the overall cost. For a cDNA microarray platform, one must purchase a clone set, robot, printing pins and the

reagents needed for DNA amplification and purification. The cost of these materials can vary significantly, but one can

expect to need at least $100,000 to establish such a platform. However, once the process of printing and hybridizing

microarrays has been optimized, the cost per experiment will fall dramatically. Thus, one must decide if the number of

planned experiments is enough to warrant the time and cost of establishing a microarray platform. If not, it may be more

prudent to seek the services of an academic microarray core facility or a commercial entity.


No comments:

Post a Comment