APPLICATIONS:

• Diagnostics in the developing world
  
• Emergency room testing
  
• Epidemiology
  
• Personal genomics
  
• Forensic testing
  
• Agricultural testing for contaminating pathogens
  
• Drug discovery

ADVANTAGES

• Rapid, accurate, and inexpensive
• Can be performed at home or in remote areas
• Results easily viewed with the naked eye
• No need for chemical labeling

ABSTRACT

Jay T. Groves and a team of Berkeley Lab researchers have invented a fundamentally new approach to genomic screening that eliminates specialized equipment and chemical labeling steps and provides results readable with the naked eye. In this invention, hybridization is measured electrostatically using charged microspheres that are highly responsive to changes in charge density on a microarray surface. The technology is capable of parallel sampling a microarray surface over centimeter length scales, which is four orders of magnitude larger than the field of view offered by conventional scanning electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) and the largest area, to date, to be electrostatically imaged with micron-scale resolution.

DNA microarrays are widely used for gene-expression profiling, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection, disease diagnosis, and pathogen detection; therefore, this invention has the potential to significantly impact genomic diagnostic technology. Since screening can be conducted without complex laboratory equipment, the Berkeley Lab technology can be used for diagnosis in remote regions and underdeveloped countries or to conduct at-home testing in industrialized nations.

STATUS:

• Published Patent Application PCT/US2009/043196. Available at www.wipo.int. Available for licensing or collaborative research.

To learn more about licensing a technology from LBNL see http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/licensing/index.html.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Nathan G. Clack, Khalid Salaita, and Jay T. Groves, “Electrostatic readout of DNA microarrays with charged microspheres,” Nature Biotechnology, 26, 825-830, (2008).

Lynn Yarris, “New DNA Microarray Technique Could Revolutionize Medical Diagnostics,” Berkeley Lab News Center, June 30, 2008.

REFERENCE NUMBER: JIB-2397

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Protease-based Cancer Screening Using Nanoliter Samples, IB-2240 

Membrane-Derivatized Colloids for the Detection and Analysis of Cell Membrane Binding Interactions, IB-1919 

Electrospray Emitters for Integrating Mass Spectrometry with Microfluidic Devices, IB-2211 

Improved Phylogenic Microarray Design and Analysis Tools, IB-2733 

Molecular Ruler for Label-free Measurement of Protein-DNA Interactions, IB-2320 

Single Step, Real-Time Protein Kinase Detection For Biological Screening, JIB-2452