In the US Pacific North West, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission's (CRITFC) genetic laboratory is using Fluidigm's integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) for genetics research of salmon.
CRITFC has been using Fluidigm's 96.96 dynamic array chip and the EP1 system for months as part of their advanced testing programme, and can process 96 SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers with 96 salmon DNA samples to provide 9,216 simultaneous reactions per chip.
A fully configured EP1 system can process more than 200,000 genotypes per day using Taqman assays.
'We are using Fluidigm technology to characterise genetic variation in fish populations, to better understand their diversity, adaptation and dispersal,' said Shawn Narum, CRITFC lead geneticist.
'Genotypes from these SNP markers provide a genetic signature for specific populations.
'That genetic signature may be used to identify unknown-origin fish during migration or in fisheries harvest.
'This provides information with immediate application to fisheries management in the Columbia River basin, including several salmon stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.' Since 1995, CRITFC and its four member tribes - Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Warm Springs - have executed plans and strategies that address salmon recovery at every stage of the salmon's life-cycle.
Genetics research is an important facet of the conservation and recovery of salmon in the Columbia River basin.
'We were using traditional life science equipment that could only process 384 data points at a time.
'With the Fluidigm EP1 system, we benefit from a 24-fold increase in production,' said Narum.
'We were able to easily integrate the Fluidigm technology into our laboratory procedures and our results have been very similar with our previous data.' Fluidigm's EP1 system provides superior data quality, a fast and easy workflow and significant cost savings for SNP genotyping studies.
The system delivers better than 99 per cent call rates and 99.75 per cent or greater accuracy.
All of this is achieved with an easy-to-use, high-throughput workflow that can provide up to 9,216 data points per IFC chip with results in just four hours.
The EP1 system, which includes the IFC controller, stand-alone thermal cycler and EP1 reader, provides over 27,000 genotypes a day.
By adding more IFC controllers and thermal cyclers to be used in conjunction with a single EP1 reader, laboratories can generate more than 200,000 genotypes in a day.
The EP1 system can also perform digital PCR, such as for copy number variation analysis.
Using a Fluidigm digital array - an IFC designed specifically for digital PCR - the EP1 system provides high sensitivity and fast workflow for researchers studying copy number variation.
The system can easily distinguish between four and five copies and provide results in a few hours, while requiring only minutes of hands-on time.
