INSTRUMENT TO GENERATE AND ANALYZE DAN SEQUENCE DATA

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT DNA-SEQUENCING METHODOLOGIES HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN 20TH-CENTURY BIOLOGY. PRESENT TECHNIQUES FOR GENERATING ANDPROCESSING SEQUENCE DATA ARE SLOW AND LABORIOUS. THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF A NEW INSTRUMENTAL APPROACH TO RAPIDLY DETERMINE THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOLABELED FRAGMENTS OF DNA IN ELECTROPHORESIS GELS. THE INSTRUMENT SYSTEM CONCEPT IS THAT OF A SINGLE-EVENT-COUNTING, TWO-DIMENSIONAL SCINTILLATION DETECTOR THAT PROVIDES DIGITIZED POSTION AND AMPLITUDE DATA FOR BETA-RAYS OR X-RAYS EMITTED BY A GEL FOR DISPLAY AND ANALYSIS BY A COMPUTER. THE INSTRUMENT WOULD BE 100 TO 1,000 TIMES MORE SENSITIVE THAN PRESENT TECHNIQUES. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE FEASIBILITY OF SUCH AN INSTRUMENT WILL BE ESTABLISHED BY MEANS OF ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES THAT WILL RESULT IN A SET OF PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS AND A COMPARISON OF COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS WITH COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE COMPONENTS AS A BASIS FOR A PHASE II DEVELOPMENT EFFORT.