SPATIALLY DEFINED OLIGONUCLEOTIDE ARRAYS

THIS PHASE I RESEARCH PROJECT INVOLVES THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPATIALLY DEFINED ARRAYS OF OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES AND THE USE OF THESE ARRAYS TO STUDY DNA SEQUENCING BY HYBRIDIZATION. NEWLY DEVELOPED TECHNIQUES IN LIGHT-DIRECTED POLYMER SYNTHESIS ARE BEING APPLIED TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF OLIGONUCLEOTIDE ARRAYS, TO EXPLORATION OF KINETIC AND SOLVENT-RELATED PARAMETERS OF TARGET HYBRIDIZATION TO THE ARRAYS, AND TO READING THE POSITIONS OF HYBRIDIZATION BY EPIFLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY. SPECIFIC COMBINATORIAL SYNTHESIS STRATEGIES ARE BEING DESIGNED TO ADDRESS EXPERIMENTAL ISSUES OF PARALLEL HYBRIDIZATION. COMPLETION OF THIS WORK WILL LEAD TO SEQUENCING INSTRUMENTATION THAT COULD PROVIDE ORDER OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENTS IN DNA SEQUENCING PRODUCTIVITY.