Althea Technologies and Blueshift Biotechnologies report that Althea received a SBIR award from the NHGRI to explore the potential for practical high-throughput and low-cost gene expression analysis.
The grant proposes the development of gene expression profiling methods that make use of Althea's technology in multiplexed PCR (XP™-PCR)* methods and Blueshift's IsoCyte™ platform. This platform is a high-throughput laser scanner adapted from semiconductor inspection technology that provides multicolor fluorescence, anisotropy, and scatter images for high-content and object-based multiplexed array formats.
The combined technologies may enable implementation of quantitative gene expression profiling in an automated high-throughput platform, providing highly specific and quantitative results for as many as 768 samples per minute.