A new probe selection method leads to better DNA chips with fewer false positives and paves the way to improved technology development.
DNA chips are now ubiquitous tools in both genomics and diagnostics, for example pathogen detection. But selecting the correct DNA molecules for immobilising onto the chips’ surface is necessary to improve the chips’ accuracy.
The improved method involves loading the DNA probes onto the surface according to length, melting temperature and specificity. The approach was used to correctly identify 19 different types of human papilloma virus and was used to analyse 1000 clinical samples, giving identical results to sequencing data obtained from the same samples.
Reference:
A generalized probe selection method for DNA chips
S B Nimse, K-S Song, J Kim, V-T Ta, V-T Nguyen and T Kim, Chem. Commun., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1cc15137a
