Service operation

 

 

The microarray facility provides a tailor-made service that offers the possibility of building “designer” microarrays and running a diversity of binding analyses. Applications may include, among others, the characterization of particular features of the printed samples (referred to as probes), screening of the binding properties towards particular probes of samples of interest (referred to as targets), or the evaluation of compounds as inhibitors of probetarget interactions.

To design a customized service for meeting the users’ needs, a description of the pursued objectives and probes/targets to be tested should first be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The user will next be contacted by the service for discussing specific details, as e.g. number of slides and amounts of probes/targets expected to be required for the intended analyses, possible systems for validation of microarray printing and detection of binding, and scheduling of the assays. As an orientation, about 1 mg of probe or 1 ml of bacterial suspension at OD600 = 1 is required for screening recognition by multiple targets, while 50-100 µg of a given target is required for testing its binding preferences towards different printed probes.

In standard procedures, the biotin-streptavidin system is used for detection of binding. To this aim, the microarray service provides Alexa Fluor 647-labeled streptavidin and different primary and secondary antibodies. The service also offers libraries of glycoproteins and (lipo)polysaccharides that can be used as well-defined probes, a panel of over 40 plant lectins of known carbohydrate-binding specificities for the analysis of glycosylation patterns of test probes, and a broad collection of human lectins of the innate immune system for evaluating the potential of test probes to serve as ligands for these lectins.

Once all details are fixed and agreed, a formal Request Form should be filled and sent to the service (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Additional information on the samples may be requested at this stage.

A report detailing the assays carried out and the results obtained, in the form of images and tables with fluorescence binding intensities, will be sent to the user by email. Data will remain confidential until publication or protection. Thorough analysis and discussion of the results on a collaborative basis can be agreed.