OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.54 2002-08
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INDEX
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Genome informatics research leads to productive encounter
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DNA
Microarray
Microarrays
are commercially available in various formats and on
different substrates. This capillary-type microarray
is currently being developed by Olympus as part of
the Genome Informatics Project.
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Structure
and Functions of Hybrid Systems
The
hybrid design improves throughput, since calculation tasks
are divided between molecular and electronic computation units.
(Click on image to expand it) |
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In December 2000 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
launched a new venture called the Genome Medical Business Promotion
Project. This marked the start of a new phase in our genetic research,
which has now progressed beyond basic research into a full-scale
business centering on related systems. The research group to which
I belong is responsible for developing element technologies from
the mid- to long-term perspective. We are also actively involved
in national R&D projects. The most important focus for our
present organization, and for its predecessor, the Corporate Research
Laboratory, is the Genome Informatics (*1) project. It was through
our joint research activities in that field that we got to know
Dr. Suyama.
The project began about five years ago. About
a year before that I was introduced to Dr. Suyama by a member of
an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry, who told me that he was engaged in some very interesting
research. The subject of that research was the DNA microarray,
or DNA chip, which is attracting so attention today.
Dr. Suyama was using genes taken directly from living organisms as the sensors
for his DNA microarray (*2). We had no experience of using biological materials,
especially at the genetic level, and we were looking for another approach. Dr.
Suyama provided the answer. More and more DNA sequences are being unraveled through
the Human Genome Project, and in the not-too-distant future we will probably
be able to understand all sequences and redesign them at will. Once a design
is made, synthesis is extremely simple. All we need to do is chemically synthesize
an array of bases. Dr. Suyama was working on the new computer software needed
for this design process, and so we invited him to give a lecture at our facility.
The topic of that lecture was "DNA Computing."
Dr. Suyama told us that computations could
be carried out using artificially designed DNA fragments. He also
told us that no special equipment was required to carry out logical
computations, and that we simply needed to combine existing experimental
apparatuses and equipment correctly.
Suyama: My idea was to create a hybrid DNA computer by combining electronic and
molecular computing systems.
We thought it was a great idea. But it was
not simple to implement the approach proposed by Dr. Suyama. I
wondered at the time how anyone could tackle such a difficult and
complex task. But just at that time, the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science, an organization affiliated with Japan's Ministry
of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, decided to include a
molecular computing project in its "Research for the Future" program.
The genome informatics project started around the same time. |
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(*1)
Genome informatics is a field of technology that deals with
the processing of the vast amounts of information required
for genome analysis.
(*2) A DNA microarray is a device used
to identify genes and DNA fragments. It is often compared to
a semiconductor chip
and is called a "DNA chip".
Depending on the length of DNA that is used for detection, the terms "oligo-chip" or "oligo
nucleotide array" are also used. |
