WaferGen Biosystems, a developer of genetic analysis systems, has made two gene expression profiling panels available for the SmartChip Real-Time PCR System to enable microRNA and cancer pathway profiling capability.
WaferGen said that the first panel, SmartChip Human MicroRNA Panel, provides a comprehensive human microRNA profile of more than 800 microRNAs on a single SmartChip and usefull with RNA from cell lines, frozen tissue and formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue (FFPE), one of the more difficult-to-work-with samples.
The second panel, SmartChip Human Oncology Gene Panel, provides approximately 1000 genes on a single chip for gene expression profiling for oncology in four replicates including representative kinases, cell cycle proliferation genes, signal transduction genes, apoptosis genes, DNA repair genes, and G-protein coupled receptors.
The 5,184 nano-well SmartChip uses a small amount of biological material to query either a thousand genes in a single sample, or fewer genes on many samples, enabling a workflow from discovery to validation of biomarkers while saving researchers time.
According to WaferGen Biosystems, by applying Quantitative Real-Time PCR Expression Profiling, the SmartChip System combines the gene expression profiling throughput of microarrays with the sensitivity, precision and dynamic range of Real-Time PCR, the gold standard of gene expression studies. The 27 built-in controls in the Human Oncology Gene Panel and the 12 built-in controls in the Human MicroRNA Panel offer added quality assurance to the results.
The SmartChip System includes the 5,184-assay SmartChip, the SmartChip Cycler, and SmartChip Nanodispenser or Multi-Sample Nanodispenser. The SmartChip Gene Expression Profiling Services are provided to universities, research hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies by WaferGen scientists at the company’s headquarters facility in Fremont, Calif.
Alnoor Shivji, chairman and CEO of WaferGen, said: “By offering these panels to researchers and scientists, we broaden the applicability of the SmartChip System across a spectrum of research needs, thereby expanding its market potential.”