Single Molecule DNA Profiling
- Technology Benefits
- High sensitivity down to a single cell.High accuracy.Reagents are commercially available and inexpensive. A limited set of reagents can produce unique profiles for a large number of molecules.Ability to detect epigenetic modifications of nucleotides.
- Technology Application
- Molecular Profiling in cancers and other human diseases.Diagnostic assays for cancers and other diseases.Prognostic assays for cancers and other diseases.
- Detailed Technology Description
- Researchers at UCLA have developed a cutting-edge technique that could revolutionize current molecular DNA profiling. The technique includes the following simple steps: 1) Fix nucleotide samples to a specially treated solid surface; 2) Generate unique “fingerprints” of all nucleotide species on the surface; 3) Image and process the “fingerprints” to create a molecular profile of all nucleotide species. The UCLA researchers have developed a protocol to make nucleotide-binding surface bind very short fragments and generate low background noise signals. The “fingerprints” can be generated using reagents that are commercially available and inexpensive. Finally, imaging and processing steps are highly sensitive, capable of obtaining information from single molecules. In principle, this technique could yield information on ~30,000 distinct species from profiling a single cell.
- Application No.
- 8566038
- Others
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Background
Cancers and many other human diseases are gene-related. Using molecular biology technology, we can detect genetic predispositions for those human diseases, helping doctors make good clinical decisions. Molecular profiling is a very important diagnostic and prognostic tool in contemporary medicine and it could also lead to personalized medicine in the future.
Current methods of molecular DNA profiling are based on either polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or hybridization of complementary nucleotide sequences. PCR-based methods are highly susceptible to contaminations and amplification artifacts when detecting low abundant nucleotide sequences. Hybridization-based methods require the manufacture of dye or radioactive labeled probes specific for interest nucleotide sequences, which are not available for many diseases. False positives may occur when samples contain similar nucleotide sequences.
Therefore, molecular DNA profiling needs to be revolutionized to allow single cell or single molecule profiling with high accuracy for various human diseases.
Tech ID/UC Case
29216/2006-048-0
Related Cases
2006-048-0
- *Abstract
-
UCLA researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have developed a cutting-edge technique that enables “fingerprinting” of a large number of molecules from a single cell. This technique could revolutionize current molecular diagnostics and prognostics, and therefore lead to personalized medicine in the future.
- *IP Issue Date
- Oct 22, 2013
- *Principal Investigator
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Name: James Gimzewski
Department:
Name: Jason Reed
Department:
Name: Bhubaneswar Mishra
Department:
- Country/Region
- USA
