An application using pressure cycling technology (PCT) is being developed to lyse cells and homogenize tissues for automated biological sample processing. This technology is feasible for automated processes in both low and high throughput applications. Our Phase I study demonstrated that PCT is very powerful to homogenize both animal and plant tissue samples. Nucleic acids released by PCT were comparable to conventional methods, and suitable for PCR and RT-PCR analysis. Bacteria samples could be lysed in simple lysis solution and crude lysate generated by PCT was suitable for PCR amplification. In this phase II study, tissue homogenization will be evaluated with a variety of animal and plant samples with different degrees of difficulties. Compatibility of the PCT tissue lysis procedure and the general nucleic acid extraction methods will be evaluated. Multiple parallel sample processing will be developed. The final objective of the project is to demonstrate utilities of PCT lysate in a variety of biological assays using nucleic acids and proteins. Steps towards commercialization of this homogenization process will be pursued upon completion of this Phase II study. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATOIN: The development of the pressure cycling technology (PCT) for sample preparation will ultimately permit automated homogenization and lysis of biological samples, such as bacteria, animal and plant tissues. The PCT lysate may be utilized in a variety of applications that require homogenized biological samples in automated processes. The successful development of the PCT homogenization technology will benefit molecular based analytical procedures in genomics, medical, forensic, agricultural, pharmaceutical, veterinary and clinical applications
