Array-based disease diagnostics using lipid/polydiacetylene vesicles encapsulated in a sol-gel matrix.

We demonstrate a novel array-based diagnostic platform comprising lipid/polydiacetylene (PDA) vesicles embedded within a transparent silica-gel matrix. The diagnostic scheme is based upon the unique chromatic properties of PDA, which undergoes blue-red transformations induced by interactions with amphiphilic or membrane-active analytes. We show that constructing a gel matrix array hosting PDA vesicles with different lipid compositions and applying to blood plasma obtained from healthy individuals and from patients suffering from disease, respectively, allow distinguishing among the disease conditions through application of a simple machine-learning algorithm, using the colorimetric response of the lipid/PDA/gel matrix as the input. Importantly, the new colorimetric diagnostic approach does not require a priori knowledge on the exact metabolite compositions of the blood plasma, since the concept relies only on identifying statistically significant changes in overall disease-induced chromatic response. The chromatic lipid/PDA/gel array-based "fingerprinting" concept is generic, easy to apply, and could be implemented for varied diagnostic and screening applications.

Ribbon channel plate rotating drum DNA sequencing device.

A new design DNA sequencing electrophoresis device is described. The device, called the ribbon channeled plate rotating drum (rprd), consists of two major components, the plate assembly and the drum assembly. The plate assembly contains a machined or etched plate of individual micro-channels called the ribbon channeled plate. The ribbon channeled plate and other components of the plate assembly combine the advantages of thin gels and capillary arrays in a single unit with few of the disadvantages. The other major component of rprd is the drum assembly, which facilitates direct blotting onto deposition membranes affixed to a large plastic drum. The drum with attached membrane and deposited electrophoretically resolved ladders is easily moved to special units facilitating downstream processing and detection. The drum unit, although versatile, is specifically designed to be used with multiplex sequencing.

A computer program to aid in calculating similarity indexes from DNA fingerprints.

DNA SIMDEX is a DOS-based computer program designed to assist in the visual scoring of DNA fingerprint assays. DNA SIMDEX uses the migration distances of the individual DNA bands to generate lists of probable matching and nonmatching bands and automatically calculates a probable similarity index between DNA fingerprints based on these initial predictions. After comparisons are edited by the user, the final similarity index, along with accompanying data, can be saved on a floppy disk or hard drive for easy storage and retrieval or can be printed directly on a laser or line printer. The program has been developed to function with or without an image-analysis system, thus making it an inexpensive alternative for small laboratories.