microRNA Arrays
microRNAs are increasingly shown to play a major role in diseases such as cancer. Both Affymetrix and Illumina provide tools to examine expression of microRNAs. Our lab has considerable experience using the Affymetrix-based array, which contains microRNA probes for multiple organisms on one single array.
Array-Based Methylation Analysis
Like microRNAs, DNA methylation also plays a critical role in the regulation of gene expression, which in turn is implicated in many disease processes. Illumina has two Infinium-based methylation assays available that can profile up to 12 samples in parallel per BeadChip. The HumanMethylation27 chip allows analysis of over 27,000 CpG loci in more than 14,000 genes, while the 450K Infinium Methylation BeadChip provides significantly greater coverage over 450,000 methylation sites.
Array-Based Drug Metabolism Analysis
Affymetrix has an array-based tool to support drug metabolism studies, the DMET chip. The chip features markers in all FDA-validated genes and covers more than 90% of the current ADME Core markers as defined by the PharmaAMDE group. The panel provides coverage of a wide range of genetic variations, including common and rare SNP, insertions, deletions, tri-alleles, and copy number, many of which are unable to be assayed using conventional SNP methods.
For more information on these arrays, or to find out about other chip-based tools that are available, please contact Jin Yin (jyin@umaryland.edu) or Nick Ambulos (nambulos@som.umaryland.edu).