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NEW TECHNIQUE PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO HOW DNA CONFORMS TO MICROARRAY SURFACES
01 March 2006 - Boston University
| A team of researchers from Boston University has developed a new application to enable more precise measurement of the location of a fluorescent label in a DNA layer. According to their study, published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the new technique provides insight into the shape of DNA molecules attached to surfaces, such as microarrays used in genomics research. Determining how DNA molecules conform to microarry surfaces may significantly improve the efficiency of DNA hybridization and microarray technology and thus impact emerging clinical and biotechnological fields. |
A team of researchers from Boston University has developed a new application to enable more precise measurement of the location of a fluorescent label in a DNA layer. According to their study, published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the new technique provides insight into the shape of DNA molecules attached to surfaces, such as microarrays used in genomics research. Determining how DNA molecules conform to microarry surfaces may significantly improve the efficiency of DNA hybridization and microarray technology and thus impact emerging clinical and biotechnological fields. The technique, called spectral self-interference fluorescence microscopy, maps the interference spectrum from a fluorophore, or fluorescent molecule, located on a layered reflecting surface into a position with sub-nanometer accuracy. “Although a number of other methods have been used to determine the structure of the DNA layer, they are not very sensitive to variations in the shape of DNA molecules,” said Bennett Goldberg, professor of physics and study co-author. “Our group has developed SSFM to determine the precise measurement of the location of a fluorescent label relative to the microarray surface. This measurement provides us with specific information about the conformation of DNA.” Using SSFM, the team estimated the shape of coiled single-stranded DNA, the average tilt of double-stranded DNA of different lengths, and estimated the amount of hybridization. The data provide important new proof points for the capabilities of novel optical surface analysis methods of the behavior of DNA on microarray surfaces. “Determining DNA conformation and hybridization behavior provide the information required to move DNA interfacial applications forward,” said M. Selim Unlu, electrical and computer engineering professor and study co-author. “Our research shows that locating a fluorescent label attached to a certain position within a DNA chain offers highly accurate information about the shape of DNA molecules bound to the surface of a microarray.” Additional study investigators include Dr. Lev Moiseev, electrical and computer engineering research associate; Anna K. Swan, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Charles R. Cantor, professor of biomedical engineering and co-director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology at BU.
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About: Boston University
Boston University has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in research in a wide range of disciplines and a demonstrated commitment to fostering innovative interdisciplinary research. The Office of the Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Education supports the University in facilitating research at the both the student and faculty levels.Our mission is to enhance and encourage research at Boston University and to provide a climate conducive to maintaining the University at the cutting edge of research and scholarly activities. We work with the Boston University community to plan and coordinate interdisciplinary research and represent the University in research matters related to Inter-University consortia. To encourage new, innovative, and cross-disciplinary efforts, this office administers the Special Program for Research Initiation Grants (SPRInG). We showcase graduate research at Science & Technology Day. This annual event features nearly 200 research posters by graduate students from both the Medical and Charles River Campuses working in a wide range of disciplines. Our annual research magazine, Research at Boston University, informs a wide audience about a selection of our significant research findings and ongoing studies at Boston University. We also maintain a strong presence on the web through this site and through the Science Coalition’s website, which brings our research successes to the attention of Congress and other policy makers in the federal government. To assist Boston University researchers, this office oversees the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and coordinates with the Office of Sponsored Programs on the Charles River Campus , the research administration on the Medical Campus, the Office of Research Compliance, and the various graduate programs. For the development of commercially viable ideas, we administer the Provost's Innovation Fund and work closely with the Office of Technology Transfer. We also coordinate proposals where there are institutional limits to the number of proposals that may be submitted, cost sharing requirements, significant laboratory renovations, or other special circumstances. This office assists departments and centers to achieve a diverse faculty and graduate student body through our membership and activities with the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and through our affiliation with the Clare Boothe Luce program of the Henry Luce Foundation. |
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