Duke University Medical Center will use Wafergen's Smartchip Real-Time PCR System to conduct genotyping research projects to validate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to breast cancer.
Researchers will also use it to examine the impact the validated SNPs have on patients' disease prognosis and response to treatment.
The research may lead to the discovery of the relative importance of specific SNPs associated with breast cancer.
In turn, this information may ultimately provide physicians with new tools for determining appropriate treatments for breast cancer, while also assisting biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in developing novel targeted therapeutics.
Dr John A Olson PhD, from Duke University Medical Center, said: 'Particularly valuable for our research team is the fact that the Smartchip system will allow us to run many samples on a single chip, providing extremely fast time to results.'
