Acquisition of Affymetrix GeneChip Microarray Instrumentation

爱荷华州立大学获得了一笔拨款，用于获得DNA寡核苷酸微阵列分析仪器，该仪器可以在一次实验中并行评估多达22500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、对生物或非生物胁迫的反应或细胞发育相关的基因的分子特征。基于寡核苷酸的微阵列已经可以购买，它们已经被设计用于许多不同物种的基因组分析。该系统对爱荷华州立大学的研究项目最为有利，这些研究项目涉及拟南芥、麦类（大麦/小麦）、酵母、果蝇、秀丽隐杆线虫、小鼠、大鼠、牛或人类微阵列等方面的发展、代谢网络、生物和非生物压力等问题。一个典型的实验可能涉及感染病原体的生物体与未感染的对照样本进行比较。信使RNA将从两个样品中提取，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。新的仪器有助于高度定量地评估两个样本中22500个基因中每个基因的表达水平，因此，比较两组数据将指出与疾病反应相关的基因。这项技术的使用将使系统地研究基因如何促成从疾病、对外部刺激的反应和正常生长发育等复杂表型成为可能。与这些复杂性状相关的新基因的迅速发现有望在医学和农业领域带来新的发现。ISU的另一项使命是培养当代生物学的研究生和本科生，他们必须精通现代基因组学工具的理论和使用。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、动物学与遗传学研究的研究生，以及遗传学、植物生理学、生态学与进化生物学、分子、细胞与发育生物学等跨部门研究生项目。此外，每年夏天，来自nsf资助的REU（本科生研究经验，分子生物技术和基因组学本科生研究经验）项目的几名学生将有机会使用这项先进技术。REU项目的重点是来自传统少数民族大学的学生和中西部小型文理学院的学生。一半的学生是代表性不足的群体的成员，一半是女性。因此，仪器系统将被整合到ISU的研究生和本科教育项目中。

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.