Teranode and Bumgarner lab at University of Washington Collaborate on Microarray Best Practices
Teranode Corporation, the leading innovator of experiment design automation (XDA) software for the Life Sciences industry, today announced its collaboration with Bumgarner Lab and the Center for Expression Arrays at the University of Washington’s Microbiology Department. The goal of the collaboration is to develop and publish XDA methodologies for streamlining microarray experiments. TERANODE XDA will be used by personnel as a laboratory information management and pathway analytics system in its microarray facility. The goal is to improve communication and coordination with outside collaborators and streamline projects undertaken by the facility.
In the Center for Expression Arrays, personnel working as a team are processing and analyzing samples for as many as 20 to 30 collaborators at any given time. Each collaborator provides samples to the lab for processing, analysis, and reporting. Completing a project is always challenged by ensuring coordination of quality checks and samples between team members and outside collaborators. A constant stream of new samples, in addition to changing chips and analysis, puts a strain on the lab’s ability to efficiently track experiments, perform analysis, and exchange data with collaborators. The Bumgarner Lab which runs the Center for Expression Arrays and Teranode will collaborate to implement TERANODE XDA as an automation and analytics platform within the facility.
“We face several major problems – organization of complex data and protocols, mapping the reams of gathered data onto biological pathways, and sharing our results with collaborators and the outside world. TERANODE XDA addresses all of these issues,” said Roger Bumgarner, Principal Investigator for Bumgarner Lab at the University of Washington. “Perhaps most importantly, the pathway modeling tools provide us, for the first time, with easy-to-use software to rapidly model the kinetics of complex molecular pathways. We believe these tools, when combined with high-throughput functional genomics data will allow us to produce predictive models of biological pathways and responses.”
The collaboration will benefit both the Center for Expression Arrays as well as outside organizations. The results of the collaboration are expected to be:
• Streamlined operations for the Center for Expression Arrays
• Open source extensions to the TERANODE XDA platform for microarray experiments for use by other facilities
• Methodologies for automating a mircoarray core facility for use by other facilities
“We’re honored to be working with the Bumgarner Lab, a leader in the use of microarray technology for fundamental biomedical research. Roger and his team have a solid track record in optimizing the value of data from microarray experiments and influencing microarray standards,” said Joseph Duncan, CEO for Teranode. “Teranode’s work with the lab validates the role and importance of experiment design automation (XDA) in closing the loop between microarray experiments and pathway analytics.”
About XDA
For more about experiment design automation (XDA), please see the Teranode sponsored white paper by IDC Life Science Insights entitled, “Experiment Design Automation: A Potential Solution for Fragmented Informatics in Biopharmaceutical Research and Development.” You can register for this report by going to: http://www.teranode.com/modeldriven .
About the Bumgarner Lab
In addition to running a the Center for Expression Arrays, the primary research in the Bumgarner Lab at the University of Washington’s Microbiology Department is centered around the development and integration of bioinformatics tools to connect genomics data to biological understanding. The gap between large-scale data collection and biological understanding has become extremely apparent in the last several years during which an increasing number of microarray-based works have been published which made little contribution to new biological understanding. The focus of lab research efforts is on the creation of tools to connect expression data to biological meaning and the application of these tools to understanding host-virus interactions and the host innate immune response. More information about the Bumgarner Lab can be found at http://www.expression.washington.edu/bumgarnerlab .
About Teranode Corporation
Teranode Corporation, headquartered in Seattle, WA, is the leading innovator of experiment design automation (XDA) software to improve speed and value of experimentation for the benefit of accelerated R&D. The company, founded in 2002 to revolutionize the role that computing plays in Life Sciences, began with technologies invented by the founders at the University of Washington. TERANODE XDA is being used by leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, research, and academic organizations including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
