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Director: Lisa White, Ph.D.
Email: lisaw@bcm.tmc.edu
Phone: 713-798-7607 |
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The objectives of the Microarray Expression
Core are 1) to integrate the established Baylor Microarray Facility
into the Gene Expression core to provide Baylor College of Medicine
Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC)
investigators access to state-of-the-art quality microarray technology
and services, and 2) assist MRDDRC researchers in experimental design,
data management, and data analysis.
Many MRDDRC researchers are interested in utilizing state-of-the-art
technologies such as microarray expression profiling to attempt to dissect
the causes and effects associated with Mental Retardation (MR). For
individual laboratories, the costs associated with establishing a microarray
capability is prohibitive (initial equipment purchases can cost between
$250,000 and $750,000).
Within the past decade we have witnessed significant advancements in
research that are directly associated with the output of the genome
sequencing endeavor. The results of these achievements provide hope
to investigators researching complex disease including MR. In MR, complex
barriers to the identification of cause include not only chromosomal
abnormalities (gross and submicroscopic) but alterations in one or several
genes having aberrant expression profiles or even hundreds to thousands
of genes with perturbed expression. This can result in a mishmash of
MR gene expression profiles that is difficult to sort through presenting
a challenge to researchers attempting to elucidate the cause and effect
of MR.
The genome sequencing projects, however, did not just make us realize
the challenges we face as researchers into the causes of MR. The explosion
of data produced created a strong new field, bioinformatics. With bioinformatics
we are now able to utilize in silico (computer-based) methods
to deeply mine the sequence of these genomes and produce tools that
will allow us to measure the “global” gene expression profile
associated with a particular cell type, tissue, or animal.
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