Fluidigm BioMark High-Throughput Genetic Analysis System

描述（由申请人提供）：基因表达的分析彻底改变了我们对生物学和临床疾病研究中基本问题的理解。研究基因表达的两种传统方法是在有限条件下进行高通量研究的微阵列分析和用于精确和灵敏地定量少数基因的实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）。微阵列分析的相对缺乏灵敏度和高成本是限制发现生物过程中基因表达变化的主要瓶颈，并阻碍了基因调控的系统生物学方法。与传统的实时PCR分析相关的高试剂成本和费力的样品处理通常排除了使用这种强大方法的高通量分析。微流控技术的发展，以精确地操纵纳升的液体体积显着增加了实时PCR研究的潜在吞吐量。最先进的BioMark高通量遗传分析系统使用集成流体电路（IFC）将实时PCR的精确度和灵敏度与极高的通量相结合，成本仅为一小部分。此外，该系统能够以适于大规模群体遗传学研究、高通量拷贝数变异分析和数字PCR应用的通量进行单核苷酸多态性（SNP）基因分型，所述数字PCR应用提供对来自单细胞的基因表达的高度定量分析。由宾夕法尼亚大学医学院、艺术与科学学院和坦普尔大学的13名NIH资助的研究人员组成的财团，其研究得到了68项NIH赠款，将成为所要求的BioMark系统的主要用户，该系统将被安置在宾夕法尼亚大学微阵列核心设施中。该设备应用支持的项目将利用BioMark系统的能力来研究关键的行为和生物医学问题，这些问题无法用宾夕法尼亚大学目前可用的微阵列和低通量真实的实时PCR系统来解决。这些研究有望彻底改变我们对昼夜节律，记忆储存，睡眠，精神疾病，代谢调节和心血管功能的生物学过程的理解，为未来开发各种疾病的新治疗方法奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The analysis of gene expression has revolutionized our understanding of fundamental questions in biology and the study of clinical disorders. The two traditional approaches to study gene expression are microarray analysis for high-throughput studies under a limited set of conditions and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for precise and sensitive quantification of a few genes. The relative lack of sensitivity and high expense in microarray analysis are major bottlenecks limiting the discovery of gene expression changes during biological processes and hindering systems-biological approaches to gene regulation. The high reagent costs and laborious sample handing associated with traditional real-time PCR analysis have generally precluded high-throughput analysis using this otherwise powerful approach. The development of microfluidic technologies to precisely manipulate nanoliter liquid volumes has dramatically increased the potential throughput of real-time PCR studies. The state-of-the-art BioMark High-Throughput Genetic Analysis System uses integrated fluidics circuits (IFCs) to combine the precision and sensitivity of real-time PCR with extremely high-throughput at a fraction of the costs. Further, this system is capable of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping at a throughput amenable to large-scale population genetics studies, high-throughput copy number variation analysis, and digital PCR applications that provide highly quantitative analysis of gene expression from single cells. A consortium of 13 NIH-funded researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences and Temple University, whose research is supported by 68 NIH grants, will be major users of the requested BioMark system, which will be housed in the University of Pennsylvania Microarray Core Facility. The projects supported by this equipment application will take advantage of the capabilities of the BioMark System to study critical behavioral and biomedical questions that cannot be addressed with the currently available microarray and low throughput real- time PCR systems at the University of Pennsylvania. These studies promise to revolutionize our understanding of the biological processes underlying circadian rhythms, memory storage, sleep, psychiatric disease, metabolic regulation and cardiovascular function, laying the groundwork for the future development of novel therapeutic approaches to a variety of disorders.