Roche NimbleGen, part of Roche Applied Science, has added four-plex eukaryotic gene expression analysis microarrays and services to its growing suite of genomic and epigenetic analysis tools
The NimbleChip Multiplex Arrays enable researchers to simultaneously hybridise and analyse samples in four replicate arrays on a single slide to provide a high-performance yet cost-effective approach to gene expression analysis.
Roche NimbleGen's unique ability to make long oligonucleotide probes (60mer) in combination with high density sub-arrays of 72,000 probes each provides comprehensive coverage of entire genomes with multiple probes per gene.
The averaging of the results from multiple probes (typically 3-7 probes per gene) provides improved statistical confidence and can dramatically reduce the impact of inconsistent probe behavior, ensuring high specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility compared to platforms that offer only one to two probes per gene.
Whole-genome designs are available in multiplex format for a broad range of species, including human, mouse, rat, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Arabidopsis thaliana, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Drosophila melanogaster.
Researchers can also request custom gene expression arrays in the four-plex format for any eukaryote with a well annotated genome.
"From the first experiment we found that the Roche NimbleGen multiplex platform was easy to use in a standard laboratory setting.
"The results are extremely reproducible, and control probes provide reliable identification of the samples loaded on each of the sub-arrays," said beta collaborator Jason Lieb, assistant professor at the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
"We will certainly look to this platform as an economical way to perform many experiments in-house".
Roche NimbleGen is an innovator, manufacturer, and supplier of a proprietary suite of DNA microarrays, consumables, instruments, and services.
It produces high-density arrays of long oligo probes that it says provide greater information content and higher data quality necessary for studying the full diversity of genomic and epigenomic variation.
The improved performance is made possible by Roche NimbleGen's proprietary Maskless Array Synthesis (MAS) technology, which uses digital light processing and rapid, high-yield photochemistry to synthesise long oligo, high-density DNA microarrays with extreme flexibility.
