For researchers using rat expression models, this new rat whole genome bioarray offers increased productivity by consolidating genome-wide expression profiling into a single experiment
GE Healthcare has announced the addition of a rat whole genome bioarray to its CodeLink microarray platform portfolio.
With approximately 34,000 gene targets, the CodeLink Rat Whole Genome bioarray provides the highest available content of any commercially available rat microarray on a single chip.
The new bioarray is said to have superior sensitivity, consistently detecting transcripts present at very low levels.
This enables researchers to detect genes expressed at ~0.3 copies per cell or 1:1,000.000, which is GE says is better than any other commercially available platform.
Kurt Jarnagin, VP of technology at Iconix Pharmaceuticals comments: "We have been using CodeLink rat bioarrays for some time to build our DrugMatrix chemogenomics reference database for use in profiling and prioritising pre-clinical drug candidates.
"We continue to be impressed with the CodeLink platform's sensitivity and reproducibility.
"The new CodeLink rat whole genome bioarray will enable us to obtain the same industry leading quality results with superior productivity.
"In addition, the database we generated using the CodeLink Rat UniSet 10K I bioarrays can be seamlessly expanded with the new rat whole genome bioarrays".
"This new rat whole genome bioarray, as with the entire CodeLink bioarray range, gives researchers working in drug target identification and biomarker discovery access to high performance gene expression data.
"Put simply, no other commercially available rat whole genome bioarray can match CodeLink in terms of content or sensitivity", said Sam Raha, vice president of CodeLink at GE Healthcare.
"With many available microarray choices, we are delighted that Iconix has chosen to extend their use of CodeLink rat bioarrays on the basis of its proven performance in their laboratories.
"Our relationship with Iconix has played an important role in helping the CodeLink platform evolve and has allowed Iconix to successfully provide leading pharmaceutical companies with products and services based on gene expression experiments completed with CodeLink," he added.
The new rat whole genome bioarray- manufactured to Six-Sigma standards - is the second in a series of planned whole genome bioarrays from GE Healthcare and becomes part of the CodeLink platform which includes hardware, software, reagents and accessories.
Data generated using CodeLink rat whole genome is backwards compatible with data generated with previous lower density CodeLink Rat UniSet 10K I bioarrays so researchers can continue to use existing data as part of future studies.
The Mouse whole genome bioarray is scheduled to launch later in 2004.
