National Human Genome Research Institute supports development of high throughput sequencing machine

SpectruMedix Corp. (State College, PA) has received a grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institute of Health to develop and test its 384-capillary DNA sequencing instrument. The grant, which is part of NHGRI's movement to support the development of high-throughput technologies for genomic research, provides $700,000 in direct research and development expenses plus some indirect costs.

Jeffrey A. Schloss, program director for Technology Development Coordination for the NHGRI, outlined the Human Genome Project's highest priority as, "providing a complete, high-quality sequence of human genomic DNA to the research community as a freely, publicly available resource."

Technology for high-throughput analysis at a reduced cost can make reaching those goals possible. According to SpectruMedix, its 384-capillaty instrument will produce accurate results at a substantially greater volume in less time at an almost 50% cost savings. SpectruMedix's target is to achieve 1,000 base reads in fewer than two hours.

SpectruMedix's 96-capillary instrument system (the SCE9610), already in commercial use, was designed to be readily upgraded to obtain four-fold higher throughput. All operation steps are automated, including capillary conditioning, gel filling, sample introduction, electrophoresis, and data acquisition. The instrument is designed to perform up to seven consecutive runs without human intervention. A simple yet efficient optical design renders a robust detection system that has excellent stability.

The instrument uses a scientific-grade CCD detector to simultaneously record fluorescence signal from all 96 or 384 capillaries in conjunction with on-column laser excitation. Multi-wavelength detection is implemented with a miniaturized spectrometer utilizing a transmission grating.

Qingbo Li, principal investigator and senior scientist at SpectruMedix said, "I am extremely pleased that SpectruMedix has been awarded this funding. It represents recognition from the genomics community of SpectruMedix's position in developing high-throughput DNA sequencing technology. This program will produce the most reliable, fully automated 384-capillary DNA instrument system on the DNA market. It will also make available to both the genomics community and the pharmaceutical industry, the first-of-its-kind, integrated analytical platform for several other very high-throughput screening applications. And all of this with remarkable cost savings."

SpectruMedix is focused on the commercialization and sales of high-speed and high-throughput DNA sequencing and genetic analysis instrumentation for the acquisition, analysis, and management of complex genetic information, and high-throughput screening, massive parallel capillary electrophoresis systems for drug discovery. The DNA sequencing and high-throughput screening instrumentation were developed in part from research efforts conducted at the United States Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, which is operated by Iowa State University's Institute for Physical Research and Technology.

For more information: Joseph Alderstein, SpectruMedix Corp., 2124 Old Gatesburg Rd., State College, PA 16803. Tel: 814-867-8600. Fax: 814-867-4513.

Edited by Laura DeFrancesco
Managing Editor, Bioresearch Online
ldefrancesco@bioresearchonline.com

Source: SpectruMedix Corp.