The CellArray: A method for multiplexed cellular assays

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The recent sequencing of the human genome will provide a wealth of gene sequence, structure, and organizational data. To harness information from this effort that will lead to effective medical therapies, techniques are necessary that distinguish the phenotypic differences of normal versus diseased cells at the molecular level. Specifically, technologies are needed that can rapidly and reliably measure the expression of molecular markers from large numbers of disease related cell types. The objective of this grant is to develop and validate a rapid and reproducible method for the multiplexed analysis of cell lines. A technique has been developed to grow, harvest, and store cells in thin tubes. The tubes are then assembled into an array and frozen sections derived from them can be mounted on slides and used directly for cell-based analyses (CellArray). The aims of this grant are to construct CellArrays containing the entire NCI anti-cancer cell line panel and validate it for protein and mRNA expression studies. The methods for CellArray construction are novel and covered by a granted U.S. patent. The NCI panel CellArrays will provide researchers with an invaluable tool for the rapid, reproducible, and economical analysis of multiple disease relevant cell lines.