Acquisition of Affymetrix GeneChip Microarray Instrumentation

爱荷华州立大学获得了一笔赠款，用于购买分析DNA寡核苷酸微阵列的仪器，允许在一次实验中并行评估多达22,500个基因。该系统将使ISU的研究人员能够将最先进的基因组学技术应用于各种植物、动物和人类研究课题，包括与疾病、对生物或非生物压力的反应或细胞发展相一致的基因的分子表征。已经可以购买到基于寡核苷酸的微阵列，这些微阵列已经设计用于许多不同物种的基因组分析。爱荷华州立大学的研究项目最有优势的将是那些研究发育、代谢网络、生物和非生物胁迫问题的项目，涉及拟南芥、小麦(大麦/小麦)、酵母、果蝇、线虫、小鼠、大鼠、牛或人类微阵列。与未感染的对照样本相比，典型的实验可能涉及感染了病原体的有机体。将从两个样本中提取信使RNA，然后用于探测寡核苷酸微阵列。这种RNA包含在病原体感染期间活跃的特定基因的遗传密码。新的仪器有助于对两个样本中22,500个基因中每一个的表达水平进行高度定量的评估，因此，两组数据的比较将指出与疾病反应相关的基因。使用这项技术将使系统地研究基因如何与复杂的表型有关，包括疾病、对外部刺激的反应以及正常的生长发育。与这些复杂性状相关的新基因的快速发现有望在医学和农业方面带来新的发现。ISU的另一项使命是培养当代生物学的研究生和本科生，这对他们精通现代基因组学工具的理论和使用至关重要。该仪器将提供给从事农学、动物科学、生物化学、植物学、植物病理学、动物学和遗传学以及遗传学、植物生理学、生态学和进化生物学以及分子、细胞和发育生物学等系间研究生项目研究的研究生。此外，每年夏天，NSF资助的REU(本科生研究体验，分子生物技术和基因组学本科生研究体验)项目的几名学生将有机会接触到这项先进技术。REU项目的重点是传统少数民族大学的学生和中西部小型文科学院的学生。一半的学生是代表不足的群体的成员，一半是女性。因此，仪器系统将纳入执行支助大学的研究生和本科生教育方案。

A grant has been awarded to Iowa State University to acquire instrumentation for the analysis of DNA oligonucleotide microarrays that allow the parallel evaluation of up to 22,500 genes in a single experiment. This system will enable researchers at ISU to employ state-of-the-art genomics technology to a variety of plant, animal, and human research topics including; the molecular characterization of genes coincident with disease, response to biotic or abiotic stresses, or cellular development.Oligonucleotide-based microarrays can already be purchased which have been designed for genome analysis of a number of different species. Research programs at Iowa State University that will be most advantaged by this system are those investigating questions in development, metabolic networking, biotic and abiotic stresses, and that involve Arabidopsis, Triticeae (barley/wheat), yeast, Drosophila, C. elegans, mouse, rat, cattle, or human microarrays. A typical experiment could involve an organism infected with a pathogen compared to a control sample that was not infected. Messenger RNA would be extracted from both samples and then used to probe the oligonucleotide microarrays. This RNA contains the genetic code for the specific genes that are active during pathogen infection. The new instrumentation facilitates highly quantitative assessment of the expression levels of each of the 22,500 genes in the two samples, thus, comparison of the two sets of data would point out genes that are correlated with disease responses.The use of this technology will make it possible to systematically study how genes contribute to complex phenotypes ranging from disease, response to external stimuli, and normal growth and development. The rapid discovery of new genes associated with such complex traits is expected to lead to novel discoveries in medicine and agriculture. Another mission of ISU is to train graduate students and undergraduate students in contemporary biology, and it is essential that they become proficient in the theory and use of modern genomics tools. This instrument will be made available to graduate students conducting research in the departments of Agronomy, Animal Science, Biochemistry, Botany, Plant Pathology, and Zoology & Genetics as well as in the interdepartmental graduate programs in Genetics, Plant Physiology, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology. In addition, several students from a NSF-funded REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates, Undergraduate Research Experience in Molecular Biotechnology and Genomics) program will have access to this advanced technology each summer. The REU program focuses on students from traditional minority universities and students from small Midwestern liberal arts colleges. Half of the students are members of under-represented groups and half are women. Thus, the instrumentation system will be integrated into both the graduate and undergraduate education programs at ISU.