SBIR-STTR Award

The long-term goal of the project is to make available different families of species-specific DNA chips carrying the complete spectrum of the genes involved in a functional pathway such as organelle biogenesis or glucose metabolism. The uniqueness of our product will lie in providing extremely affordable and highly focused functional gene arrays. The specific aims of Phase I are to synthesize a customized oligonucleotide- based macroarray for differential gene expression analysis and perform differential gene expression analysis utilizing a biologically relevant model system. It will be possible to use physiological and biological information from well-characterized animal models to examine gene expression in different species and to monitor panels of regulated genes in desired functional pathways in humans utilizing domains of homology. An added novelty of the proposed approach is that oligonucleotides will be selected to minimize the variability between primers on the same array. This technology lends itself to a rapid customization of gene arrays based on an iterative process where oligonucleotides for different genes may be substituted for one another based on the results of analyses of biological specimens. A successful outcome of this approach is likely to lead to custom molecular tools for high throughput assays in drug discovery. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Validating the use of an oligonucleotide based gene array system will result in a less expensive and customizable way to monitor gene expression of entire gene families and metabolic pathways. The oligonucleotide-based macroarrays will serve as an inexpensive alternative to the sometimes cost prohibitive high-density microarray systems currently available. The low cost will make the macroarrays widely available and thereby accelerate the pace of basic research and drug discovery.