The major aims of this project are to develop and test a system for parallel processing of sensor arrays for analysis of biological samples. By processing multiple samples in parallel in a uniform manner, sources of signal.variation can be measured, characterized, and understood. This is particularly important for research and diagnostic analysis of human samples, because of the genetic and phenotypic diversity in human populations. An extreme example is the case of cancer cells, which have numerous mutations and are heterogeneous. Quantitative mRNA profiling and other array-based analyses of samples of this type can only be made fully effective by the analysis of many samples, in an experimentally well- controlled system. Unfortunately, commercially available array-based technologies have limitations that make it difficult to apply them to many samples in an automated way.This proposal aims to take advantage of conventional microtiter fluid handling and sample processing by marrying it to array-based experimentation. The proposal will allow 16 samples to be processed in parallel in this way, which is a capability that does not exist for any conventional array technology.
Parallel sample analysis can be applied directly to a number of important array-based analytical approaches. These include RNA and protein profiling and single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping. The technology has application in drug target discovery, toxicology, functional genomics research, cancer diagnostics and management of patient treatment. Potential customers include pharmaceutical companies, genomics companies, research laboratories, and providers of screening services.
