A large scale effort to identify polymorphisms involved in environmentally induced disease, known as the Environmental Genome Project (EGP), was initiated at NIEHS in 1998. The EGP further aims to characterize health effects of polymorphisms, and to conduct epidemiologic studies of gene-environment interactions. The Molecular Genetics Core Facility infrastructure was created to perform nucleic acid sample isolation, sample management and genetics studies to support this and other genetics efforts at NIEHS. During the past fiscal year, robotic automation was expanded to increase throughput, reduce manual labor, and decrease the cost of genetic studies performed at NIEHS. We developed a dynamic web portal to manage the core facility, and an associated database to track both work product and cost of each study. We established gene resequencing infrastructure which provides support from primer design through data analysis, while reducing cost per reaction. We also developed an automated and gel-free mouse tail genotyping method to reduce labor and expense of this time consuming and costly aspect of maintaining mouse colonies for genetic studies. Both the methods automation and methods development aspects of our workgroup offer opportunities for accelerated development of new therapies for prevention of environmentally induced disease.
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