Quantitative Genomics and Transcriptomics
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This research theme focuses on the development and integration of quantitative molecular biology experimental procedures in conjunction with instrumentation and miniaturization for nucleic acid measurements related to diseases and conditions, and in particular neuroblastoma and leukaemia.
Recent research programmes have incorporated miniaturization to enable high-throughput analysis of cell populations and subsequent on chip in vitro gene amplification.
Micro total analytical system (µTAS) approaches to enable integrated analysis from clinical sample through to meaningful quantitative numbers, are being employed to support translational medicine, where molecular responses defining and characterizing clinical subgroups are correlated to personalized treatment. A PhD study programme with Professor John Yin and Dr Richard Byers (MRI) aims to utilise these approaches to study minimal residual disease (MRD) in leukaemia.
Utilising a Combimatrix array platform, a novel PhD study is employing oligonucleotide tiling arrays to determine probes possessing the most representative binding to polymorphic regions of amplicons for use in human papillomavirus (HPV) screening studies. This approach is being used to identify cryptic HPV strains in keloid disease in a study with Dr Ardeshir Bayat.
The Quantitative Molecular Medicine group maintain a transcriptome screening facility. Available facilities include an Affymetrix GeneChip Suite, other gene array platforms and high-throughput quantitative PCR hardware and know-how.
Collaborators include:
- Roche Diagnostics
- Institute for Spectrometry and Spectrochemistry, Dortmund
- Astra Zeneca
- Dortmund Institute for Technology
- University of Western Australia
Key investigator
- Dr Philip J Day