ASI-Spectral Karyotyping (SKY) System

描述（由申请人提供）：新的遗传技术与充分表征的基因组相结合，使小鼠成为了解人类疾病和鉴定疾病基因的首选哺乳动物模型。研究人员必须能够表征这些模型的生理和遗传，以充分利用其生物医学潜力。为了实现这一点，潜在的研究人员必须进行与人类诊断医学相同的基本临床评估，通常包括染色体和组织学分析。杰克逊实验室（TJL）的工作人员在定义标准近交系小鼠的规范生物学和表征数百种新的具有生物医学意义的自发和诱导突变方面处于最前沿;核型分析是这种表征的一个重要方面。TJL研究人员目前依赖于Davisson博士的研究人员通过她的细胞遗传学研究计划提供的有限兼职细胞遗传学服务。这损害了她的程序的生产力和需要核型分析的程序的研究进展。申请资金用于购买半自动光谱核型分析系统，ASI-SKY系统，应用光谱成像公司。Vista CA已经证明了其在人类诊断医学和基础研究环境中的可靠性。该系统还提供定量光谱组织分析，代表了一种用于细胞遗传学评估的具有成本效益的机制，而不需要细胞遗传学专业知识，从而将这种分析能力扩展到所有感兴趣的研究人员。ASI-SKY系统将直接加强17名TJL研究人员的工作，他们拥有34名NIH资助的赠款，目前无法获得半自动化，定量，数字光谱成像仪器。ASI-SKY系统提供了TJL无法提供的4种功能：1）半自动小鼠染色体核型分析，2）突变小鼠和对照小鼠组织特异性差异的定量测量，3）同一组织样本中多种不同蛋白质的同时光谱评估，以及4）图像中每个像素的发射光谱的捕获，分析和简单的比色呈现。在细胞遗传学家Davisson博士的指导下，生物成像服务部提供技术人员辅助的、按服务收费的最先进仪器，这将极大地加强正在进行的研究工作，并确保最大限度地使用这种仪器，从而提供一种具有成本效益的方式来填补TJL研究人员的紧迫和目前未满足的需求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): New genetic technologies combined with a well-characterized genome make the mouse the preferred mammalian model for understanding human diseases and identifying disease genes. Investigators must be able to characterize these models both physiologically and genetically to exploit their full biomedical potential. To realize this potential investigators must make the same basic clinical assessments used in human diagnostic medicine, often including chromosomal and histological analyses. The staff of The Jackson Laboratory (TJL) is at the forefront both in defining the normative biology of standard inbred mice and in characterizing hundreds of new spontaneous and induced mutations of biomedical significance; karyotypic analysis is an essential aspect of this characterization. TJL investigators currently rely on limited part-time cytogenetic services provided by Dr. Davisson's research personnel through her cytogenetic research program. This compromises both the productivity of her program and the research progress in programs requiring karyotypic analysis. Funding is requested for the purchase of a semi-automated spectral karyotyping system, the ASI-SKY System, Applied Spectral Imaging, Inc. Vista CA, that has proven its reliability in human diagnostic medicine and in basic research settings. This system, which also delivers quantitative spectral tissue analysis, represents a cost-efficient mechanism for cytogenetic assessment without requiring cytogenetic expertise, thus extending such analytical capabilities to all interested investigators. The ASI-SKY System will directly enhance the work of 17 TJL investigators with 34 NIH-funded grants who currently lack access to semi-automated, quantitative, digital spectral imaging instrumentation. The ASI-SKY system offers 4 capabilities unavailable at TJL: 1) semi-automated mouse chromosome karyotyping, 2) quantitative measurement of tissue-specific differences in mutant and control mice, 3) simultaneous spectroscopic assessment of multiple distinct proteins in the same tissue sample and 4) capture, analysis and simple colorimetric presentation of emission spectra from every pixel in an image. Delivery of technician-assisted, fee-for-service access to this state-of-the-art instrumentation by the Biological Imaging Service under the guidance of Dr. Davisson, an established cytogeneticist, will greatly enhance ongoing research efforts and assure maximum use of such instrumentation, thus providing a cost-effective way to fill an urgent, and currently unmet need of TJL Research Staff.