The overall objective of this career development grant is to develop fast and efficient methods and instruments to sequence DNA. Initially, the specific aims of the grant are to * develop an automated phage picker, modeled after the LBL bacterial colony picker, to select the clones needed for the sequencing of the yeast genome; * improve the throughput of gel electrophoresis by examining methods of reducing the sample size and increasing the number of samples run on a gel; develop a method of automatically loading small samples at high density into the gel; * explore the use of laser based, confocal microscopy to read fluorescence either directly from a gel as in fluorescence based electrophoresis, or from fluorescently tagged probes hybridized to DNA bound to a surface as in multiplex sequencing or sequencing by hybridization. The candidate will work and collaborate closely with biologists in the Stanford Yeast Genome Project and with members in the Department of Genetics. In addition, he will establish close ties to the Engineering departments at Stanford.
