Agilent Technologies Inc.
(NYSE: A) today announced a solution for exon analysis based on SurePrint
G3 Exon Microarrays. The solution provides a major expansion of Agilent's portfolio
of gene expression reagents, microarrays and bioinformatics systems. This new
system, available in mid-November, enables researchers to examine alternately
expressed exons according to recently updated content, providing a global picture
of RNA expression.
"We're continuing to fill out our gene-expression workflow with high-performance,
cost-effective tools from RNA isolation kits through data interpretation and
validation," said Sharoni Jacobs, Ph.D., Agilent product manager, Gene
Expression. "In December we introduced the Low Input Quick Amp labeling
kit, which requires only 10 nanograms of total RNA. Last May, we launched the
third-generation SurePrint G3 Gene Expression microarrays, which include both
coding and non-coding RNA targets on a single array."
Agilent is leveraging the performance and density of the SurePrint platform
to provide a full-exon solution to help researchers discover the relationships
between approximately 30,000 genes and more than 100,000 proteins.
Agilent SurePrint G3 Exon Microarrays enable researchers to identify both gene-level
and exon-level expression changes in a single experiment to capture subtle but
important biological changes. RNA is prepared for hybridization using Agilent's
Low Input Quick Amp WT labeling kit for whole transcript labeling. Agilent's
GeneSpring GX 11.5 bioinformatics system increases productivity even more by
helping investigators analyze gene-level data and splicing indexes simultaneously.
"Exon level arrays represent a significant step up in our ability to interrogate
the genome in greater detail than traditional 3 prime biased arrays," said
early access user Stuart Pepper, head of the Cancer Research U.K. Molecular
Biology Core Facility at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, The University
of Manchester. "Our initial work with these arrays has shown that we can
obtain very clean data which will facilitate the detection and quantitation
of alternate transcript expression."
Agilent offers catalog content for human, mouse and rat in 4x180K (four arrays
per slide, 180,000 features each) and 2x400K formats, letting users choose between
cost, throughput and comprehensive coverage. Like its other microarrays, Agilent
also provides custom options for the human, mouse and rat SurePrint G3 Exon
products. Custom formats include 8x60K, 4x180K, 2x400K and 1x1M.
Like all Agilent microarrays, the SurePrint G3 Exon solution delivers a wide
dynamic range to detect low expressors and high expressors to accurately represent
the range of expression levels and provide high confidence in the results.
Agilent provides the industry's widest selection of gene expression solutions,
offering a comprehensive portfolio with the highest array sensitivity, a proven
and reliable qPCR platform, and an integrated software solution that streamlines
the workflow, all with a focus on quality results.