DNA Analysis Using Bioarrays
DNA analysis has benefited from advances in bioarray technology. Bioarrays are similar to electronic memory, storing known information for comparison to unknown data for identification. They have emerged as the fastest and most efficient DNA analysis technique, giving researchers the ability to perform up to 10,000 DNA tests, and more, at one time on a single sample of genetic material. Bioarrays are central to the development of the array biopharma industry.
Bioarrays use hybridization, or a matching technique, to detect the presence or absence of specific genetic sequences in a sample of blood or other material. DNA naturally occurs as a double helix of two strands, where each strand consists of complementary sequences that bond biochemically. A bioarray consists of short single strands of DNA that are not matched to a complement. When a prepared sample containing DNA, such as a drop of blood, is applied to the chip, the short single strands of DNA sequences already on the bioarray bind with complementary sequences of DNA in the sample, making DNA analysis possible.
Many Applications Of DNA Analysis Using Bioarrays
Bioarrays are useful in several applications, including:
- Drug discovery – to test for the match of a drug candidate against a genetic target
- Genomic research – to identify which genes are related to certain disease states
- Drug development – to test the metabolic/toxicity characteristics of a drug candidate
Diagnostics – to test for the presence and type of infection, for disease predisposition, or to monitor response to therapy
Pharmacogenomics – to enable individualized prescriptions and screen for the up or down regulation of genes in the presence of certain stimuli, such as a drug
Non-healthcare applications including agriculture, forensics, and food safety
Bioarrays As Diagnostic Tools
In the 1980’s, biochips emerged as a novel micro technology platform for analysis of bio-molecules. The underline technologies involve a range of disciplines such as life sciences, information technology, microelectronics, and micro mechanics. Being of high throughput, miniaturized, automated and cost-effective features, biochips are regarded as important potential tools in modern life science research, medical diagnosis, drug discovery, food safety monitoring and agriculture. Biochips are considered to be able to markedly increase the speed and scope of DNA analysis and provide enormous economic value. Therefore, many governments and industrial companies in the world have heavily invested in this field in recent years.
Role of Bioarrays In Pharmacogenomics
The biochip and microarray markets are currently estimated at USD300 million, and are expected to grow 30 to 40 per cent annually in the coming years. By 2008, the market for these technologies is estimated to reach at least US$1 billion. The global market for biochip applications such as microarrays, scanners and microfluidics is expected to grow to US$1 billion by 2008, according to a study published in June by Business Communications Co. Inc. The major market drivers include the increasing need for pharmaceutical companies to fuel their drug pipelines in order to sustain their current annual growth rates, the need for cost containment, and the need for innovative tools that will enable a systems-driven approach to drug discovery. Pharmacogenomics is seen as developing in tandem with DNA analysis using bioarrays.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan’s drug discovery technologies group “World Biochip Markets,” projects this industry will surpass the US$3.3 billion revenue mark by 2008, with the largest share of dollars garnered by the microarray segment. “The world biochip markets are clearly still in the development stage, and multibillion-dollar growth is inevitable as the application for biochips continues to expand,” says Frost & Sullivan Drug Discovery Technologies Industry Manager Surabhi Garg, Ph.D. “Scientists have accepted microarrays as a valuable DNA analysis technology which offers biopharma companies the promise of higher throughput and greater reproducibility through array biopharma.”
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