– Microarray Laboratory
The microarray laboratory in UMBI is equipped with platforms to study gene expression, methylation profiles as well as most array-based analyses. There are three main equipments in the lab namely the Illumina iScan system, the Illumina Bead Array Reader system and the Affymetrix GeneChip system.
The iScan system from Illumina supports the broad portfolio of innovative Illumina assays for genotyping, CNV analysis, DNA methylation, and gene expression profiling. This cutting-edge array scanner supports rapid, sensitive, and accurate imaging of Illumina BeadChips for high quality results in genetic analysis. Its high-performance lasers, optics, and detection systems dramatically reduce scan times; thus maximizing output without sacrificing data quality and reproducibility. On the other hand, the Illumina Bead Array Reader is an older microarray technology based on randomly arranged beads with specific oligonucleotide sequences assigned to each bead. The Bead Array Reader is also used in many applications including gene expression, SNP genotyping, copy number variation, sequencing, gene regulation, epigenetic, cytogenetic and methylation profiling analysis.
The Affymetrix GeneChip System is a chip-based technology which supports both DNA and RNA studies related to gene expression, copy number variation, drug metabolism, genome-wide genotyping, molecular cytogenetics, resequencing, targeted genotyping, 3 IVT expression, gene regulation, microRNA and whole-transcript expression analysis.
In 2009, our microarray laboratory became a member of the BIONEXUS Partners Program of the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation. Under this initiative, the laboratory is made available for researchers in the industry with a competitive costing structure. The charges are categorised based on the processes involved including target synthesis, labeling, fragmentation, hybridization and scanning.
Licensed softwares for data analysis are available in UMBI and these include GeneSpring 12.5, Partek 6.6, Pathway Studio 9.0 and CLC Bio (v7.0). These softwares can be used for visualization and analysis of gene expression and genomic structural variation data as well as to perform pathway analysis, and interpretation of gene expression.
