A few years ago, they did. John N. Weinstein, a senior investigator at NCI and head of the genomics and bioinformatics group, spoke at Stanford University, where he discussed his ongoing work characterizing protein and RNA expression of the cell lines in response to test compounds. Patrick O. Brown, who was pioneering the new microarray technology, using it to take "snapshots" of the gene expression profile in yeast cell lines, was in attendance at the talk. At the time, he had just begun to work with a few human cell lines.
For Brown, Weinstein's presentation struck a cord. The cells represented a well-characterized group of samples that had been chosen for their diverse background and biological properties. "This seemed like a wonderful opportunity," says Brown, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor in the department of biochemistry at Stanford University Medical School.
The two men decided to collaborate: Weinstein's team ...
