The United States Environmental Protection Agency has selected CodeLink custom bioarrays to perform gene expression experiments aimed at identifying biomarkers to assess aquatic toxoity
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected CodeLink custom bioarrays from Amersham Biosciences to perform gene expression experiments aimed at identifying biomarkers to assess aquatic toxicity.
The new CodeLink custom bioarray service will allow the EPA to rapidly design unique fathead minnow bioarrays using the established Six Sigma manufacturing processes used for all CodeLink products.
Using these custom bioarrays, the EPA will be able to quickly screen its selected genes with the highest degree of accuracy and reproducibility to determine the best set of biological indicators to use for identifying contaminants in the aquatic environment.
The EPA will provide gene sequences from the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), a standard animal model for aquatic toxicology studies, which Amersham Biosciences will use to create customised gene microarrays.
According to David Lattier and Ann Miracle, coinvestigators at the EPA, customised gene microarrays will greatly accelerate the ability to develop bioindicators for water toxicity in aquatic ecosystems.
The custom-designed DNA bioarrays will enable rapid, accurate, and high throughput screening for molecular markers and ultimately provide a valuable tool for assessing risks to the USA's water resources. "We are very honoured to work with the EPA to develop this important water toxicity tool," comments Sam Raha, vice president of CodeLink at Amersham Biosciences.
"This collaborative effort with the EPA marks the official launch of our CodeLink custom bioarray service, which offers customers access to proprietary CodeLink microarray technology together with the flexibility of customizing the content and design of the arrays." As part of the CodeLink custom array service, customers can have arrays made by selecting tailored subsets of human, mouse and rat CodeLink content or by specifying any content of their choice.
CodeLink Bioarrays utilise patented 3-D matrix technology along with functionally validated genes to offer the most reproducible, sensitive and reliable microarrays available.
