MICROARRAY PRINTING

Microarrays are miniature arrays of gene fragments attached to glass slides. The presentation of thousands of gene fragments in a single array allows investigators to define changes in gene expression within a significant fraction of the total genome. For example, cancers will no longer be classified on the basis of a few proteins, but will be characterized by the change in hundreds of specific genes. Animal models will be related to human diseases not by appearance alone but by the changes that occur in thousands of genes. The application of microarrays will have a significant role in clinical and basic science. Improved understanding of the gene changes occurring in human diseases will lead to the development of new diagnostic tools as well as more effective drugs. In the basic sciences, microarray technology will permit researchers to elucidate the genetic pathways that are followed in the development, aging, and pathology of specific cells or tissues of the body.

The Center will help establish a cDNA and robotic microarray production facility in the CGB that will service the needs of investigators throughout the University of Tennessee System. This facility will produce cDNA and custom-array the fragments onto either glass slides or nylon membranes. This is a very costly and labor-intensive process that can not be borne by individual laboratories, and thus the Center will enable investigators to have access to this technology at little or no cost. The Center will maintain cDNA clone sets for mouse (currently we have the National Institute of Aging set of 15,000 mouse clones), human, and rat, and other organisms as the need arises. The Molecular Resource Center of Excellence and the National Eye Institute Vision Center (both at UTHSC) provide facilities for microarray analysis of large sets of genes. Dr. Geisert is the director of the molecular module in the Vision Center and is a member of our planning team. In addition, the Molecular Biology Resource Facility at UTK supports microarray analysis. We envision that these groups will serve as critical satellite facilities that will each have the capability to hybridize and read microarray data from chips that are produced at the Center facility. The bioinformatics component of the Center will work with these facilities to offer assistance in the analysis of arrays and the data mining associated with the results. The Center will hire at least two young investigators who use microarray methods in their research on biological or biomedical problems. These individuals will help run the microarray core and provide expertise to investigators system-wide who would like to use this approach in their research. Several research groups on campus are poised to use this facility; some have already made arrangements to collaborate outside Tennessee but would more than willingly use the CGB facility to enhance their research programs. Several groups are identified below whose efforts would be greatly enhanced by the presence of a microarray core. In many instances, the use of microarray technology will be a prerequisite for funding for proposed studies in functional genomics.

MICROARRAY ANALYSIS


Microarray Analysis Core

The Analysis Core will assist UTHSC investigators with design, statistical and interpretation of microarray data (outlined in figure below). In addition, the Core will provide bioinformatics support to design custom cDNA or oligonucleotide arrays.

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