Liverpool is one of only two universities in the UK with the machine, which can read up to 100 million DNA letters in a few hours compared to technology currently in use that can only process 50,000.
The machine - called GS-Flex - is unique in that it uses an enzyme found in fireflies as a flash light to help read the DNA strand.
Scientists from all over the UK will be able to use the new technology for a variety of different purposes, from cancer research to veterinary science. Researchers at Liverpool, for example are looking at DNA sequencing of the malaria parasite. By studying changes in parasite DNA scientists aim to understand why some species of malaria can infect humans and others can only infect other animals.
Professor Neil Hall, at the University ™s School of Biological Sciences, explains: This new machine is invaluable not only for research into diseases such as cancer and malaria, but for our understanding of genetics as a whole. For example we have scientists looking at the DNA of fish in understanding how genes are activated and we have veterinary scientists looking at how illnesses in domestic pets can be passed to humans.
We have a team of experts at the University that are skilled in using this technology and we are therefore in a position to welcome collaboration with other institutions in reaping the benefits of this.
Current DNA sequencing has been pioneered by institutes like the Wellcome Trust ™s Sanger Institute. It was here that scientists decoded a record-breaking two billion letters of DNA in the human genome. In order to do this, however the technology which was large and complex required hundred of machines housed in specially constructed buildings. The new state-of-the-art machine is now no bigger than a photocopier and stored in a laboratory at the University ™s School of Biological Sciences.
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We have worked on this problem for a number of years, and our current findings are a logical incremental step in understanding how utrophin could become an effective tool for treating DMD, states Khurana. He cautions that while he hopes his work will lead to an effective treatment someday, there are many steps and hurdles to get through first.
This work was funded in part by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Disease, the National Eye Institute, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research. Co-authors on the study are Kelly J. Perkins, Utpal Basu, Murat T. Budak, Caroline Ketterer, Santhosh M. Baby, Olga Lozynska and Neal A. Rubinstein, from Penn, along with John A. Lunde and Bernard J. Jasmin of the University of Ottawa.
PENN Medicine is a $2.9 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Penn's School of Medicine is ranked #2 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #3 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals, all of which have received numerous national patient-care honors [Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center]; a faculty practice; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.
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