PARALLEL ARRAY PROCESSOR

该项目的主要目标是开发和测试一个系统，用于并行处理生物样品分析的传感器阵列。通过以统一的方式并行处理多个样本，可以测量、表征和理解信号变化的来源。这对于人类样本的研究和诊断分析特别重要，因为人类群体中存在遗传和表型多样性。一个极端的例子是癌细胞的情况，它有许多突变并且是异质的。这种类型的样品的定量mRNA谱分析和其他基于阵列的分析只能通过在实验良好控制的系统中分析许多样品来完全有效。不幸的是，商业上可获得的基于阵列的技术具有局限性，这使得它们难以以自动化的方式应用于许多样品。该提案旨在通过将其与基于阵列的实验相结合来利用传统的微量滴定液处理和样品处理。该提案将允许以这种方式并行处理16个样本，这是任何传统阵列技术都不存在的能力。建议的商业应用：平行样品分析可以直接应用于许多重要的基于阵列的分析方法。这些包括RNA和蛋白质分析和单核苷酸多态性基因分型。该技术可应用于药物靶点发现、毒理学、功能基因组学研究、癌症诊断和患者治疗管理。潜在客户包括制药公司、基因组公司、研究实验室和筛查服务提供商。

The major aims of this project are to develop and test a system for parallel processing of sensor arrays for analysis of biological samples. By processing multiple samples in parallel in a uniform manner, sources of signal.variation can be measured, characterized, and understood. This is particularly important for research and diagnostic analysis of human samples, because of the genetic and phenotypic diversity in human populations. An extreme example is the case of cancer cells, which have numerous mutations and are heterogeneous. Quantitative mRNA profiling and other array-based analyses of samples of this type can only be made fully effective by the analysis of many samples, in an experimentally well- controlled system. Unfortunately, commercially available array-based technologies have limitations that make it difficult to apply them to many samples in an automated way.This proposal aims to take advantage of conventional microtiter fluid handling and sample processing by marrying it to array-based experimentation. The proposal will allow 16 samples to be processed in parallel in this way, which is a capability that does not exist for any conventional array technology. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Parallel sample analysis can be applied directly to a number of important array-based analytical approaches. These include RNA and protein profiling and single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping. The technology has application in drug target discovery, toxicology, functional genomics research, cancer diagnostics and management of patient treatment. Potential customers include pharmaceutical companies, genomics companies, research laboratories, and providers of screening services.