First 60-mer oligonucleotide rat microarray for genome screening and toxicogenomic research incorporates toxic response genes from NIEHS
Agilent Technologies Europe has introduced the industry's first 60-mer oligonucleotide rat microarray kit for genome screening and toxicogenomic research, which determines effects of a toxic substance, drug or pesticide on an organism.
The new microarrays will be used in drug discovery and development efforts to identify toxic substances and understand how human genes respond and interact in human diseases caused by environmental pollutants or toxicants.
The microarray kit (Agilent G4130A) was developed in collaboration with several public and private enterprises, including Paradigm Genetics and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Rat genes were selected based on the latest content of the public RefSeq database, human and mouse homologues, and unique toxic response genes identified by the NIEHS.
The new kit includes five microarrays, printed on standard 1" x 3" glass slides, with over 20,000 unique rat gene probes per microarray, providing broad genome coverage and specialised content for toxicogenomics researchers.
"Paradigm has a contract with the NIEHS to use gene expression profiling to measure the effects of toxicants on an organism," said Heinrich Gugger, Paradigm's president and CEO.
"We intend to use Agilent's rat oligo microarrays in this toxicogenomics research, the results of which are expected to be compiled in a public database available to the scientific community.
This array enhances the value of our co-marketing agreement with Agilent and provides new opportunities for our microarray services business." "Gene expression technologies are critical to furthering our understanding of how thousands of human genes respond and interact with each other during different states of health, disease and challenges from toxicants, " said Richard Paules, toxicogenomics facilitator of the National Center for Toxicogenomics and director of the NIEHS microarray group. "We hope these advancements will slash the time and expense of testing chemicals for potential harmful effects, enabling faster and more scientifically based regulatory decision-making. "
