Fluidigm Corporation
has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) has purchased a Fluidigm microfluidic-based EP1™ System
to help develop and validate focused 96- and 384-SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism)
panels for testing America's dairy and beef cattle. To ensure healthy cows and
top quality product.
ARS scientists are collaborating with leading members of the U.S. biotechnology
industry to develop low-cost, high-throughput SNP panels that can genetically
indicate cattle growth rates, disease resistance, milk productivity, health
and longevity. To date ARS has studied over 100 of the more than 50,000 previously
discovered genetic markers for cattle. The project's goal is to turn out healthier
cows that produce higher-quality milk and meat for consumers while also preserving
the viability of the country's thousands of cattle ranchers and dairy farmers.
Validated SNP panels are expected to be utilized routinely in livestock breeding
management. There are approximately nine million dairy cows and 35 million beef
cattle in the United States
"ARS purchased a Fluidigm EP1 System to perform focused SNP validation
and testing of cattle samples. The flexibility of our system allows them to
quickly reconfigure their SNP panels for each experiment and our low cost per
data point will allow the industry to adopt Fluidigm's technology broadly. Our
hope is that genetic understanding and testing of these cattle can help consumers
and producers of cattle in the U.S., and around the world, increase the output
of their herds and help meet the global demand for high-quality cattle,"
said Gajus Worthington, president and chief executive officer of Fluidigm. "Increasing
our genetic understanding of plants and animals and applying that knowledge
to improve the world's food supply is one of the most important developments
of the 21st century."
The ARS project is led by animal geneticist Curtis P. Van Tassell. Under his
leadership, ARS scientists are integrating newly identified molecular markers
with existing data sources to determine how to raise the predictive accuracy
of evaluated traits in cattle, thus increasing the rate of productivity improvement.
The project involves top researchers in government, academia and industry to
find the best and most cost-effective genetic testing markers and methods to
improve the quality and productivity of the country's cattle.
Fluidigm develops, manufactures and markets proprietary Integrated Fluidic
Circuit (IFC) systems that significantly improve productivity in life science
research. Fluidigm's IFCs enable the simultaneous performance of thousands of
sophisticated biochemical measurements in extremely minute volumes. These "integrated
circuits for biology" are made possible by miniaturizing and integrating
liquid handling components on a single microfluidic device (IFC). Fluidigm's
systems, consisting of instrumentation, software and single-use chips, increase
throughput, decrease costs and enhance sensitivity compared to conventional
laboratory systems. Fluidigm products have not been cleared or approved by the
Food and Drug Administration for use as a diagnostic and are only available
for research use.