NIA Makes Novel Clone Set Immediately Available

For Immediate Release
May 24, 2000

Contact: Doug Dollemore
(301) 496-1752

Researchers at the National Institute on Aging have distributed a recently established mouse cDNA microarray/clone set containing more than 15,000 unique genes to 10 designated academic centers worldwide. These centers have each agreed to redistribute this microarray/clone set to at least eight additional end users on demand. End-users will be allowed to produce and distribute microarrays, but will not be permitted to redistribute the clone set, known as NIA 15K cDNA set.

Nearly 80 percent of the genes in this clone set have never been studied before, said Minoru S.H. Ko, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Institute's Developmental Genomics and Aging Section, Laboratory of Genetics in Baltimore.

Dr. Ko and his colleagues hope the immediate release of this high-quality DNA clone set to the scientific community will foster institutional collaboration and sharing of resources that could accelerate research of mouse models for human diseases. The NIA 15K cDNA set, which was derived from embryonic and fetal cells and tissues, also may help speed the analysis of changes in the expression of many genes during aging and stem cell differentiation.

"NIA 15K is a very fundamental research tool that will be of benefit to the entire scientific community," Dr. Ko said. "It really could be a source of many discoveries."

Distribution schedules will be determined by the centers and subsequent end users. All centers and end users will be allowed to charge nominal fees in order to recover costs of materials, shipping and handling. For details about acquisition of this clone set from a designated center, visit the following NIA website: http://lgsun.grc.nia.nih.gov/ .

The NIA's intent in making the clone set available is to encourage archiving of microarray studies in a shared database for analysis by many laboratories. The data then can be collated and studied in ways that can provide more insight than can come from a single laboratory. Use of the NIA15K cDNA clone set carries no collaboration requirement that would constrain usage, so that all laboratories may have unencumbered access to the microarray.

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