Following closely on the heels of the publication of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus genome, Mukilteo, Wash.-based CombiMatrix recently announced the release of the first SARS microarray. The array will be made available at no cost to a limited number of government and academic research centers, says Ali Arjomand, senior scientist at CombiMatrix. The company plans to launch three types of chips: for detection and screening; for genome-wide detection of viral mutations; and for the study of viral and/or host gene expression.
The array for mutation typing, which compares the hybridization pattern of a previously sequenced viral genome with a sample from a patient, is designed to identify new viral variants and the regions of the genomes in which the two versions differ. But Arjomand says that, as a drug screening and development tool, the gene expression array will have the greatest long-term impact. "This [array] is more ...
