Ambry Genetics has introduced the Stemarray range of products and services for the high-resolution characterisation of human stem cells.
The Ambry Stemarray, which utilises aCGH technology to cover the entire genome, offers a higher-resolution approach to standard karyotyping for stem cells at comparable costs.
The 44K array offers increased coverage in known stem-cell- and cancer-associated genes to further enhance the resolution in these functionally important regions.
'The Stemarray is the solution for stem-cell scientists that are working with human embryonic stem [hES] cells and induced pluripotent stem [iPS] cells in order to detect genomic abnormalities found in stem cells that would be missed by low-resolution karyotyping,' said Ardy Arianpour, Ambry's director of business development.
According to the company, hES cells and iPS cells that are cultured for an extended period of time are susceptible to chromosomal instability, which is a big concern for researchers.
Stem cells have been characterised mainly through traditional low-resolution karyotypic analyses, which can only identify large-scale aneuploidies of more than 5Mb in size.
The Ambry Stemarray has an average resolution of 43Kb throughout the genome and 24Kb in Refseq genes.
Resolution is even further enhanced, to the exonic level, in stem cells and cancer-related genes.
Dr Aaron Elliott, Ambry's research-and-development scientist for genomics, said: 'As human stem cells begin to make their way into clinical studies, it is essential that the cell lines be thoroughly characterised.
'Using the Stemarray, scientists will not only detect the extremely large copy number changes that can be found by karyotype, but also identify very small aberrations that occur during culture that could decrease the reproducibility and reliability of experimental data,' he said.
