Fundamentally cancer is a genetic disease. Germline variations and somatic mutations influence not only cancer risk but also impact the treatment, progression, and survival of this disease. Thus, to understand the genetic influence of cancer, large-scale genomic based research supported by high-throughput technologies is a necessity. Genomic data opens the """"""""black box"""""""" and provides information about the molecular genetic factors that predispose individuals to cancer development, the specific mutations that gave rise to an individual tumor, the physiology of a tumor, and the physiology of the patient. Today a more comprehensive evaluation of germline genetics and tumors profiles is essential for the discovery of biomarkers for individualized medicine and personalized therapy. The purpose of this Shared Instrumentation Grant application is to fund the purchase of a high-throughput DNA extraction system. The requested DNA extraction platform is an integrated solution from two well established vendors in biospecimen automated processing, Qiagen and Tecan. Specifically, the Qiagen AutoPure LS system provides automated purification of archival quality, high molecular weight DNA that is required for DNA banking and population-based genetic association studies. The Qiagen AutoPure system will be integrated with a Tecan EVO 150 liquid handling platform that will enable the assessment of DNA yield, quality, normalization and aliquoting into desired volumes in 2D bar-coded cryogenic tubes.
The specific aims for various projects described in this application vary, however they all share the common need for a high-throughput system that can generate high quality DNA to support efforts including genome-wide association studies (GWAS), large case series for studying environmental factors on the onset of adult glioma, prostate cancer biomarker discovery, genotyping and direct sequencing to study the natural history of HPV infection in men. Projected usage of this instrument indicates that it will be well used with the described projects utilizing 74% of capacity. Remaining capacity will be utilized to support other Cancer Center investigators and initiatives such as the Total Cancer Care institutional general banking protocol. The instrument will be housed and operated within the Tissue Core Shared Resource facility. The Cancer Center will provide significant institutional support for this instrumentation by purchasing over $54,000 in yearly service contracts to facilitate the care and maintenance of the both system. Major users described in this proposal are principal investigators on over $24-million dollars in NIH funding.
