The new technology, details of which are published in the July 2005 issue of Nature Methods, "may lead to a better understanding of human cancer, as well as other human disorders, because it will let scientists discover and then detect unique biomarkers of disease in patients," says Hallgeir Rui, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of oncology at Georgetown and principal investigator of the study.
Rui and the study's first author, postdoctoral researcher Matthew LeBaron, Ph.D., created the technology, which they call cutting edge matrix assembly (CEMA), to construct what are known in the field as tissue microarrays. This new method can be done by using the tools that are already available in a medical center's pathology laboratory, they say.
Researchers now analyze tumors or tissues in large numbers by embedding cylindrical core samples of tissue, each taken from an individual patient, into a cube-like paraffin block, which is then sliced thin and stained in order to show proteins or molecules that scientists think may be involved in a disease. The cores, however, must be spaced a certain distance apart within the paraffin structure or else the cube will crack, Rui says. "This is both laborious and tricky."
The CEMA technology uses a simple strategy of stacking "plates" of individual tissue, and bonding them with glue. The multiple stacks are then transversely cut and bonded edge-to-edge to assemble the high density arrays or matrices. Thes
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Contact: Cindy Fox Aisen
cfa3@georgetown.edu
202-687-5100
Georgetown University Medical Center
23-Jun-2005