LC Sciences Pairs Deep Sequencing with Customized Microarrays to Offer New Seq-ArraySM Service for Discovery & Profiling Applications
Released
on: March 19, 2010, 8:43 am
Author:
Chris Hebel
Industry: Biotech
HOUSTON - Mar 19, 2010 - LC Sciences today announced the
launch of its new Seq-ArraySM services designed to take full advantage
of both the latest deep sequencing capabilities and the proven genomics
tool – microarray. This combination of technologies advances microRNA
research to the next level of depth and understanding that was not
possible before with either of the technologies alone. LC Sciences has
been a leading provider of microRNA discovery and profiling services
since 2005.
microRNA is a young, dynamic field of study and though significant discoveries are
being made every day, the very complex regulatory mechanisms of these small RNAs are
still not fully understood. Continued advancement requires adaptable, even
customizable research tools that can keep pace with the rapidly advancing research
in this field. While deep sequencing yields results that broadly cover genome-wide
miRNAs from samples of various origins, the relatively high cost and low throughput
nature of sample handling, makes the systematic follow through of the sequencing
discoveries for validation and/or profiling in a reproducible manner time consuming
and expensive. Microarrays have achieved wide acceptance as the preferred tool to
systematically profile and compare the gene expression of large numbers of samples
rapidly, reproducibly, and cost effectively; however they are dependent on
previously known sequence information. Seq-ArraySM is a combination of these
technologies that maximizes the effectiveness of each method while overcoming the
limitations of the other.
Seq-ArraySM for microRNA starts with exploratory small RNA deep sequencing of a
single or mix of RNA samples to perform a broad search and generate a comprehensive
atlas of all microRNAs within a given research study. Next, bioinformatics are
employed to map the raw sequencing reads to a custom generated sequence database,
classify and align all sequences and sequence variants, as well as to predict novel
microRNAs. A custom SeqArray™ microarray is designed based on the mapped novel
microRNAs, the predicted novel microRNAs, and any previously described publicly
available microRNA sequences. Finally, expression profiling of large numbers of
samples on the custom array design together with additional bioinformatics work
completes an efficient pathway to focused biological insights including: revealing
regulatory target genes, defining gene expression pathways, and discovering
biomarkers.
“We feel like this is a productive match of the two technologies,” says Dr.
Christoph Eicken, Head of Technical Services at LC Sciences. “It’s something we have
really already been doing for a while and thought it made sense to package together
as a single service. Often times researchers come to us who are studying a
non-typical species with very limited or no prior knowledge of microRNA sequences or
function in their model system. By the end of the complete Seq-ArraySM project they
have become the world authority on microRNA in their area of research. It’s been
very exciting to be part of this.”
About microRNA – microRNAs are small non-protein-coding RNA molecules that function
as negative regulators of gene expression by targeting specific mRNAs. This either
inhibits translation or promotes mRNA degradation.
About LC Sciences - LC Sciences is a leader in microRNA discovery and profiling
offering flexible services and delivering high quality results based on our
innovative µParaflo® custom microarray platform and the latest deep sequencing
technologies. We have developed complementary bioinformatics tools necessary for
extracting microRNA and miRNAome information from large sequencing data sets and for
designing custom arrays. LC Sciences custom microarrays make use of a microfluidics
on-chip synthesis platform to produce made-to-order microarrays and deliver the most
up-to-date research tools.
More information about LC Sciences is available at http://www.lcsciences.com.
Contact Details: Chris Hebel
VP of Business Development
LC Sciences LLC
2575 West Bellfort St #270
Houston, TX 77054
713-664-7087
FAX 713-664-8181
chebel@lcsciences.com
www.lcsciences.com
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