Opportunity For A License: Whole Chromosome Painting Probes (WCP Probes) and Band-Region Specific Painting Probes (Micro-FISH Probes) Developed by Dr. Paul Meltzer and Dr. Jeffrey Trent, National Center for Human Genome Research

Resumo

The National Institutes of Health seeks non-exclusive biological materials licensees to commercialize Whole Chromosome Painting Probes (WCP probes) and Region Specific Painting Probes (Micro-FISH probes) generated by chromosome microdissection and amplification of specific regions, and labelled for Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH). The probes can be hybridized to normal metaphase chromosomes and used as either diagnostic reagents for identification of chromosomal abnormalities or as research reagents to further study various cancers and hereditary diseases. WCP probes for all human chromosomes are being generated using a universal primer. The probes are significantly superior to current probes due to greater sensitivity and selectivity. The subject invention allows generation of probes for the acrocentric chromosomes (13,14,15,21 and 22) by elimination of shared ribosomal elements between these chromosomes. While numerous whole chromosome painting probes are presently available, most have technical limitations. Most frequently, hybridization to portions of the target chromosome is incomplete because of gaps in the sequence. Additionally, in many cases flow- sorted chromosom