Dual-Mode Microarry Platform

A new dual-mode, one-color/two-color microarray platform is designed to offer greater flexibility and performance for gene expression.

The new platform was developed by Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA, USA). "Until now, researchers selecting a gene expression microarray platform had to choose between convenience and resolving power,” noted Michael Booth, business manager, genomics, at Agilent. "Scientists no longer have to make that choice.”

Usually, two-color microarrays provide the most accurate results, especially for small changes of expression levels, since two RNAs are co-hybridized to the arrays, according to Calvin Lin, Ph.D., director of gene expression, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, NY, USA), which recently completed comprehensive testing of the dual-mode microarrays. Agilent's dual-mode microarrays can be used either for one-color or two-color experiments to match the requirements of researchers.

Using proprietary ink-jet-based manufacturing techniques, Agilent provides highly sensitive 60-mer oligo microarrays in custom and catalog formats. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) selected Agilent's dual-mode platform as part of its microarray quality control (MAQC) project, designed to provide quality control guidance to the microarray industry.

"By combining the flexibility of our dual-mode gene expression platform and the ability of customers to design their own microarrays through our eArray website, Agilent now offers the most versatile gene expression microarray platform available,” added Mr. Booth.




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