Robotic Liquid Handler and Microplate Analyzer System

机器人液体处理机和微孔板分析仪系统

• 批准号: 6877475
• 负责人: STEPHAN W MORRIS
• 金额: $ 20.5万
• 依托单位: ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-01-01 至 2005-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6877475
• 关键词: biomedical equipment purchase; cellular oncology; high throughput technology; molecular oncology

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The evolving discipline of Chemical Biology (or Chemical Genomics) has empowered investigators with a new set of tools and approaches to probe basic biological and genetic questions. This strategy uses libraries of small molecules (e.g., natural compounds, aptamers, or the products of combinatorial chemistry) and high-throughput screening to advance understanding of biological pathways to identify compounds that act as positive or negative regulators of individual gene products, pathways or cellular phenotypes. In addition, the field of Developmental Therapeutics, long mainly pursued only within the context of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, is emerging within the academic sector, in large part due to the continued genetic division of diseases into subsets amenable to targeted therapies but that are too small from a market standpoint to attract the interest of for-profits. While this identification of small-market disease target groups is new and continuing, occurring in large part due to the human genome effort, the economic blocks to for-profits that have precluded the development of new therapies for "orphan diseases" such as the pediatric malignancies, as well as "Third World Diseases" like many of the infectious diseases, has been a longstanding problem. The liquid-handling robot and microplate reader that are the subject of this application are requested as part of a multi-institutional initiative, involving five institutions (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The University of Tennessee, Health Science Center, the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi, the University of Memphis, and Christian Brothers University) located in the Memphis, TN area, that seeks to establish robust Chemical Biology and Developmental Therapeutics programs to help address basic biological questions and to improve the therapy of disease, especially those diseases typically ignored by pharma and biotech. This initiative involves more than 20 investigators with varied areas of expertise, including molecular and cellular ontology, the infectious diseases, and medicinal chemistry, among others - most of whom have one or multiple NIH grants to support their studies, and are engaged in multi-disciplinary collaborative projects with one or more other investigators located at the five participating institutions. A component of this research initiative also includes the establishment of a high throughput screening (HTS) core facility to be based at St. Jude, which will be available to qualified investigators at all five local institutions to facilitate their efforts to develop small molecules for both basic research and possible therapeutic applications, especially for orphan disease targets. The liquid-handling robot and microplate reader requested in this application will help to meet the marked demand for HTS capabilities in the Memphis region - as is exemplified by the multiple investigator project descriptions that comprise this document - by helping to make a local HTS core facility a reality.

描述（由申请人提供）：化学生物学（或化学基因组学）的不断发展的学科赋予研究人员一套新的工具和方法来探索基本的生物学和遗传学问题。该策略使用小分子文库（例如，天然化合物、适体或组合化学的产物）和高通量筛选，以促进对生物学途径的理解，从而鉴定充当单个基因产物、途径或细胞表型的正或负调节剂的化合物。此外，长期以来主要在制药和生物技术公司范围内开展的发育治疗学领域正在学术界出现，这在很大程度上是由于疾病的遗传学继续分为适合靶向治疗的子集，但从市场角度来看太小，无法吸引营利性公司的兴趣。虽然这种小市场疾病目标群体的识别是新的和持续的，在很大程度上是由于人类基因组的努力而发生的，但阻止开发“孤儿疾病”（如儿科恶性肿瘤）以及“第三世界疾病”（如许多传染病）的新疗法的营利性经济障碍一直是一个长期存在的问题。作为本申请主题的液体处理机器人和酶标仪被要求作为多机构倡议的一部分，涉及五个机构（St. Jude Children's Research Hospital，The University of Tennessee，Health Science Center，the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of密西西比，the University of孟菲斯，and Christian Brothers University）位于田纳西州孟菲斯地区，该项目旨在建立强大的化学生物学和发育治疗学项目，以帮助解决基本的生物学问题，并改善疾病的治疗，特别是那些通常被制药和生物技术忽视的疾病。该计划涉及20多名具有不同专业领域的研究人员，包括分子和细胞本体学，传染病和药物化学等-其中大多数人拥有一个或多个NIH赠款以支持他们的研究，并与位于五个参与机构的一个或多个其他研究人员进行多学科合作项目。这项研究计划的一个组成部分还包括建立一个高通量筛选（HTS）核心设施，该设施将设在圣裘德，将提供给所有五个当地机构的合格研究人员，以促进他们为基础研究和可能的治疗应用开发小分子的努力，特别是孤儿疾病目标。本申请中要求的液体处理机器人和酶标仪将有助于满足孟菲斯地区对HTS能力的显著需求-正如本文件中包含的多个研究者项目描述所示-通过帮助实现本地HTS核心设施。