2001-2002 VizX Labs As a graduate student, Eric Olson learned something about DNA microarrays: Biochip data management can be vexing. His graduate adviser abandoned a number of microarray experiments because it was too difficult to manage the data using the software supplied with the arrays. Now Olson is director of science for a company that is trying to change that. Seattle-based VizX Labs offers a Web-based, platform-independent microarray data analysis package called GeneSifter. Net͐

Courtesy of Miro Pastrnak, Tensor Biosciences Infusing cultured brain tissue slices with the electrical activity of living brains sounds like the stuff of 1950s horror movies, or something taken straight from the pages of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. But scientists at Irvine, Calif.-based Tensor Biosciences haven't created a monster. Their Brain-on-a-Chip™ technology promises to speed up the development of drugs for treating a variety of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, depress

Protein arrays are a relatively new technique for studying protein-protein interactions and profiling antibody binding and specificity, and in the past year a number of companies have released premade arrays. Now, Rockford, Ill.-based Pierce Biotechnology offers a new line of kits designed for researchers looking for a simple, convenient way to array their own proteins or antibodies. Pierce's DiscoverLight™ kits use a gridded nitrocellulose membrane that includes preprinted biotin and p

Photo: Courtesy of Amersham Biosciences AMERSHAM BIOSCIENCE's IN Cell Analyzer system Drug discovery frequently involves the screening of large numbers of candidate compounds, and any technology that helps researchers weed out the less-promising contenders can potentially save pharmaceutical companies a great deal of time and money. But studying the subcellular effects of drugs has proven to be something of a drug-discovery bottleneck, as these assays are largely done in a nonautomated,

Image: Courtesy of Exiqon Scientists at Vedbaek, Denmark-based Exiqon are working toward the goal of a "one-chip-fits-all" array based on the company's locked nucleic acid (LNA™) technology. According to Niels Ramsing, director of new technologies, Exiqon is currently developing a universal array that can be used to generate a hybridization pattern or "signature" for any given sample. A variety of assays could then be developed to compare the signature of the sample to standards specific

Image: Courtesy of John Reif  NEXT GENERATION PC? An AB* array lattice formed from two varieties of DNA tiles, including one (B*) containing an extra loop of DNA projecting out of the lattice plane, faciliting atomic force microscope imaging of the lattice. A multidisciplinary group of researchers is trying to change the way people think about computers. Why rely solely on silicon-based hardware, they say, when there is so much promise in what Grzegorz Rozenberg of the University of Leid

Antibody arrays hold great promise, but the difficulty and expense of making antibodies against large numbers of different proteins effectively limits their use to smaller-scale applications. "To make an antibody array, typically you have to start out with purified proteins that you want to capture," explains Michael A. Nemzek, executive vice president for business development at South San Francisco-based Aspira Biosystems. "That's fine if you only want to capture a small number of proteins. B

Image: Courtesy of John Wiley & Sons Bioinformatics is "hot" these days, but it's a subject that can leave many life scientists cold. Now Hoboken, NJ-based John Wiley & Sons has launched Current Protocols in Bioinformatics, the latest addition to its popular Current Protocols series. "We're trying to make bioinformatics approachable to the biologist who doesn't have much training in computational methods," says senior editor Ann Boyle. The Current Protocols format offers a convenient way

Traditional array detection systems employ fluorescence or radionuclide labeling, but these methods can lead to photobleaching or high background noise. Valencia, Calif.-based QIAGEN recently launched the HiLight™ Array Detection System to address this problem. The HiLight system uses a method called Resonance Light Scattering (RLS), which takes advantage of the light-scattering properties of nanoscopic metal particles in suspension. When irradiated with white light, these particles sca

Photo: Courtesy of SolexaSolexa's single-molecule detection apparatus Nick McCooke, CEO of Solexa, has a bold goal: to analyze, in one day, the whole genome of an individual for one thousand dollars. The Cambridge, UK-based company (www.solexa.com) is developing TotalGenotyping™, a method based on the Single Molecule Array™ technology invented by Solexa founders and Cambridge University academics Shankar Balasubramanian, David Klenerman, and their team. The process will combine ul

Image: Courtesy of Accelrys Screenshot of DS ViewerPro Researchers routinely have at their disposal a variety of sophisticated software tools to help them analyze data and make decisions, but communicating results across disciplines and promoting collaborations between scientists can be a challenge. San Diego-based Accelrys aims to bridge this communications gap with its Discovery Studio™ line of software products, a horizontal information management system for the life sciences. Sc

Image: Erica P. Johnson "Never share your prescription." That's good advice: People may react differently to drugs, whether because of weight, gender, or metabolic differences. When a physician writes a prescription, one would think that it is custom-made for the patient. But, more often than not, it's "Take two and call me in the morning." Advocates of pharmacogenomics say a better approach would be to custom-design medications to fit each patient's needs; some scientists argue, however, that