Mouse oligo microarray launched to aid research into drug reaction, and already adopted by major US research organisations
Agilent Technologies and Paradigm Genetics have introduced a 60-mer oligonucleotide mouse microarray as part of a previously announced collaboration.
The new Agilent mouse oligo microarray kit provides researchers the ability to conduct genome-wide profiling research to better understand adverse drug reactions, physiological effects of toxins and toxic substances, and to study genetic diseases such as cancer.
The mouse oligo microarray can be used to assess over 20,000 well-characterised mouse genes and transcripts, including a special set of toxicology markers defined through collaboration with several public and private enterprises, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and members of the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium.
As part of its $23.8 million toxicogenomics contract with the NIEHS, Paradigm Genetics is beginning to process thousands of Agilent mouse and rat oligo microarrays to develop genetic profiles of organism responses to toxicants. Eventually, these profiles will be collected into a toxicogenomics database that will be publicly available to the scientific community for their research.
Building on their expertise in DNA microarray processing and data analysis, Paradigm has developed a microarray research services business, using Agilent's gene expression platform and the Rosetta Resolver system.
"We've been working closely with Agilent and researchers in the field to produce a microarray that will further the research of the toxicogenomics programme, and help promote convergence to an open standard microarray for toxicogenomics," said Heinrich Gugger, president and CEO of Paradigm Genetics.
"The introduction of this microarray is an important milestone for our research.
"We are already processing the new microarrays for the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium and the highly-sensitive, robust results speak for themselves.
"This new mouse microarray serves as a complement to our mouse development oligo microarray kit released last fall, which focused on developmental genes in mice," said Barney Saunders, vice president and general manager, Agilent BioResearch Solutions.
"For both microarrays, we have worked with Paradigm Genetics and other leading researchers in the field to ensure that the best and most up-to-date genetic information is used.
"We believe this particular microarray will be of great value to gene expression researchers in the areas of toxicogenomics, cancer, immunology and neuroscience". Together, the Agilent mouse oligo microarray kit and mouse development oligo microarray kit provide coverage of approximately 34,000 genes and transcripts.
These microarrays are printed with 60-mer oligo probes on a 1"x3" glass slide, making them accessible to any lab that has a standard 1"x3" scanner or the Agilent Microarray Scanner. Researchers can also add their own novel probes to either of these microarrays through Agilent's custom microarray services.
