"The high multiplexing capability and sensitivity of the approach is provided by using the digital molecular weights of small molecules to code for the identity of the pathogens and detection of the molecular tags with high sensitive mass spectrometry, which can be potentially miniaturized," stated coauthor, Jingyue Ju, PhD, Head of DNA Sequencing and Chemical Biology at the Columbia Genome Center.
The project, headquartered at the Mailman School's Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory, is a global effort, with partners from around the world providing input into assay design, clinical samples for validation, as well as opportunities to advance the science to the next, practical stages-including outbreak investigation, and blood product screening. Key partners in the work presented in the current publication include the Centro Nacional de Microbiologia of Spain, the Wadsworth Laboratory of the New York State Department of Health, Qiagen Inc, and Operon Inc. Application of the technology is already being evaluated through collaborative relationships with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, South Africa, the University of Hong Kong, SAR, the Robert Koch-Institute, Germany, and the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany.
Funding for the project was received from the National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the Northeast Biodefense Center, and the Ellison Medical Foundation.
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Contact: Stephanie Berger
sb2247@columbia.edu
212-305-4372
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
7-Feb-2005