Scientists apply next-generation technology to identify and understand the unexplored regions of the human genome
Affymetrix has announced that the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has awarded grants to selected academic researchers to apply Affymetrix GeneChip brand technology to the next phase of the Human Genome Project, known as the Encode project (Encyclopedia Of DNA Elements).
Grantees applying Affymetrix technology to the Encode Project include Michael Snyder at Yale University, Anindya Dutta at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and Thomas Gingeras of Affymetrix.
The objective of the Encode project is to identify, locate and annotate all functional elements in the ~98% of the human genome that lies outside of the protein-coding regions.
Affymetrix will make this technology broadly available in order to accelerate research on the vast, unexplored regions of the human genome. "Now that a complete working draft of the human genome is available, it's important to begin the next phase of our efforts to fully identify its functional content," said Thomas Gingeras, vice president of biological research at Affymetrix.
"The Encode project provides a framework for new technical approaches to discover novel RNA transcription and regulatory regions which play important biological roles". "We are excited about mapping the functional elements of the human genome at high resolution levels," said Michael Snyder, professor and chair of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale University and director of the Yale Center of Genomics and Proteomics.
"We look forward to applying the powerful GeneChip technology to address the objectives set out by the Encode project and better understand the intricacies of the genome on a broad scale".
The Human Genome Project has provided humanity with an incredible resource and now science is relating the DNA sequence to human health.
To accomplish this task, the identity, location and annotation of the functionally important regions of the genome must be determined.
The Encode project will begin as a pilot effort to identify technologies and methodologies that can effectively identify the genomic elements in a 1% representative selection of the genome.
Information gathered from this initial study will provide the basis for future efforts.
"Affymetrix stands ready to provide researchers with powerful tools necessary to meet the challenges set by the Encode project," said Stephen Lombardi, vice president of corporate development.
"Through our unique ability to leverage photolithographic manufacturing techniques, Affymetrix will deliver products containing unsurpassed data content and allow scientists to conduct 'true' whole genome analysis studies and decipher the remaining 98% of the human genome".
As an example of what could be discovered in the Encode project, in the 3 May 2002 issue of Science, Affymetrix and researchers from the National Cancer Institute published the first empirical data set that uncovered hidden levels of RNA transcription on chromosomes 21 and 22 in excess of the previously characterised gene transcription activity discovered through the Human Genome Project.
These findings were made possible through new array and scanner technology developed at Affymetrix that allow the human genome to be probed at a higher resolution than ever before possible.
This same technology will now be made available to Encode and other researchers to further characterise the important functional elements of the human genome.
