The major goal of this project is to develop a new reliable, high resolution, efficient, and cost effective technique for the general detection of genetic defects in the human genome, and in selected pieces of DNA. The approach is to utilize the extraordinary capabilities of plasmon resonant particles which can provide non-toxic, very bright, robust, color-labeled probes that can be bound to any desired specific- locus DNA fragment, and then hybridized to the DNA strand of interest. We expect to achieve a spatial resolution between marker probes of less that 0.5 KB. We shall develop the specific reagents, protocols, and associated technology which will be user-friendly, and affordable for wide scale clinical applications. Particular applications include DNA chip arrays.
There are both large and small scale commercial applications. On the immediate small scale, there if the manufacture and sale of the specialized microscope accessories needed to observe the Plasmon Resonant Particles, and the sale of the probe-coated Plasmon Resonant Particles, (PRP) and related reagents. On the large scale, there is the application of the PRP techniques to medical diagnostic tests for gene defects, immunoassays, and immunocytology. A robotic version is possible.
| Schultz, David A (2003) Plasmon resonant particles for biological detection. Curr Opin Biotechnol 14:13-22 |
