VIDEO ACQUISITION-BASED DNA SEQUENCE GENERATION

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A LOW-COST SYSTEM THAT WILL INCREASE THE SPEED AND EFFICIENCY OF READING AND PROCESSING DNA SEQUENCING DATA. VIDEO-BASED IMAGING TECHNOLOGY WILL BE UTILIZED FOR FAST ACQUISITION, AND ADAPTATIONS OF PROCESSING PROGRAMS WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR AUTOMATED IDENTIFICATION. MEDICAL IMAGE ANALYSIS SYSTEM EQUIPMENT WILL BE USED. A VIDEO CAMERA WILL BE MODIFIED TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL DEPTH OFDATA IN THE DESIRED RANGE. THE TOTAL SYSTEM WILL BE USED ASA TEST BED FOR PROCESSING PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT. BECAUSE THE SYSTEM IS OF MODULAR DESIGN, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE COMPONENTS WILL BE SUBSTITUTED WHEN AVAILABLE. SPECIFICATIONS WILL BE DEVELOPED TO INTERFACE TO COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SEQUENCE ANALYSIS PROGRAMS AND DATABASES. THE FEASIBILITY OF THE LOW-COST, HIGH-SPEED APPROACH WILL BE EVALUATED BY COMPARING THE READING AND PROCESSING OF A NUMBER OF SAMPLE GELS. A SUCCESSFUL PHASE I WILL PROVE FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT. PHASE II WELL BE REQUIRED TO CONVERT "BREADBOARD" CIRCUITRY TO COMMERCIALLY VIABLE HARDWARE AND TO OPTIMIZE THE HARDWAREAND SOFTWARE FOR EASE OF USE.