A REAL-TIME IMAGING SYSTEM FOR ENHANCING DNA HYBRIDIZATION TECHNOLOGIES

ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AND CHALLENGING FIELDS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TODAY IS THE GENETIC STUDY OF EUKARYOTIC SYSTEMS. THE PRELIMINARY, BUT OFTEN RATE LIMITING, STEPS IN THIS AREA ARE THE DNA TRANSFER/HYBRIDIZATION TECHNOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH GENE MAPPING, AND THE SCREENING OF DNA LIBRARIES FOR GENE ISOLATION. THESE PROCEDURES USE RADIOLABELED HYBRIDIZATION TECHNIQUES AND AUTORADIOGRAPHY TO ACHIEVE THE REQUIRED DETECTION SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY. THE PARTICULAR PART OF THE PROCESS THAT THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES IS THE MEASUREMENT OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOACTIVITY ON THE TRANSFER MEMBRANE. NORMALLY, THE AUTORADIOGRAPHS TAKEN OF THESE MEMBRANES REQUIRE AN EXPOSUREOF 16 TO 24 HOURS. FURTHERMORE, BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY IN SAMPLE ACTIVITY, THE AUTORADIOGRAPHIC STEP IS OFTEN ITERATED TO BRACKET THE EXPOSURE TIMES AND OBTAIN THE MAXIMUM IMAGE SHARPNESS. A NEWLY AVAILABLE, POSITION SENSITIVE NUCLEAR DETECTOR WILL BE EMPLOYED TO GENERATE A REAL-TIME IMAGE OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOACTIVITY ON THE TRANSFER MEMBRANE. FURTHERMORE, THIS IMAGE DETECTION SYSTEM WILL BE COUPLED TO A LABORATORY COMPUTER FOR DATA STORAGE AND ANALYSIS. BY THIS APPROACH, THE RESEARCHER WILL NOT ONLY BE ABLE TO OPTIMIZE DATA WITHOUT SUFFERING THE DELAYS ASSOCIATED WITH AUTORADIOGRAPHY, BUT WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO CARRY OUT THE PROCEDURE WITH A MUCH HIGHER LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE. THIS ABILITY WILL SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE ENTIRE PROCEDURE AND ALLOW MORE RESOURCES TO BE DIRECTED TOWARD THE ANALYTICAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK.