Acquisition of the Fluidigm system to accelerate functional genomics research

描述（由申请人提供）：生物医学研究中最令人兴奋的进展之一是基因组尺度生物学的引入，它使研究人员能够以高分辨率获得目标基因组的全局视图。技术的快速发展，如高密度微阵列，使SNP基因分型和基因表达测量，下一代（NextGen）测序仪的发明，以及最近的单细胞技术，极大地加速了基因组技术与其他研究领域的整合，并彻底改变了分子生物学，遗传学和基因组学的世界。最大的挑战之一是对定制的、高通量的后续研究的需求日益增加。所要求的Fluidigm系统（Fluidigm Corporation, San Francisco， CA）是一种微流体装置，它为这一关键问题提供了解决方案，并将极大地加速广泛学科的研究。该系统安装在贝勒医学院（BCM）已建立的功能基因组核心设施中并由其操作，大量研究人员可以轻松访问该系统，并将其用于许多不同的应用，包括：1)GWAS跟踪研究，以识别来自大型患者队列的致病变异和基因；2)高通量SNP基因分型；3)利用区域靶点捕获结合下一代测序技术鉴定和克隆人类疾病基因；4)高通量实时定量RT-PCR，用于测量从微阵列或RNA-Seq研究中鉴定的靶基因表达；5)单细胞分离、裂解、DNA/RNA提取和文库制备。由于参与的pi既从事基础研究，也从事临床研究，其中包括三位医生，我们相信Fluidigm系统的引入将对许多医学相关领域产生直接、强烈和即时的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): One of the most exciting advances in biomedical research is the introduction of genome scale biology, which enables researchers to gain a global view of their target's genome at high resolution. Rapid development in technologies, such as high density microarrays that enable SNP genotyping and gene expression measurement, the invention of next generation (NextGen) sequencers, and most recently single cell based technology, has greatly accelerated the integration of genome technology into other research fields and has revolutionized the world of molecular biology, genetics, and genomics. One of the biggest challenges is the increasing need for customized, high throughput follow up studies. The requested Fluidigm system (Fluidigm Corporation, San Francisco, CA) is a micro-fluidic device that offers a solution to this critical issue and will greatly accelerate research in a broad rangeof disciplines. Housed in and operated by the established Functional Genomic Core facility at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), this system will be easily accessed by a large group of researchers and utilized in many different applications, including: 1) GWAS follow up studies to identify disease causing variants and genes from large patient cohorts; 2) high throughput sample SNP genotyping; 3) identifying and cloning human disease genes by regional target capture coupled with the next generation sequencing; 4) high throughput quantitative real time RT-PCR for measuring target gene expression identified from either microarray or RNA-Seq studies; 5) single cell isolation, lysis, DNA/RNA extraction, and library preparation. As the participating PIs engage in both basic and clinical research, including three medical doctors, we believe the introduction of the Fluidigm system will have direct, strong, and immediate impact on many medically relevant fields.