The development of short fragment SCODA (sfSCODA) for diagnostic applications.

Emerging research indicates that a variety of short (<200 bp) nucleic acids contain a wealth of biological and medically-important information. Two attractive sources of short nucleic acid fragments include formalin fixed embedded tissues (FFPEs) and circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) in blood. The medical value of these tissues is often limited by researchers’ ability to extract useful and pure nucleic acids. It is difficult to purify such short nucleic acids using leading nucleic acid purification technologies, due to the low affinity of the purification columns, resulting in low yields of short nucleic acids. This project has the potential of purifying short fragments using a modified version of a novel electrophoretic technology (SCODA). Engineering SCODA for this purpose will allow the high yield purification of short nucleic acid fragments from complex samples, unlocking valuable diagnostic information.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Eric lagally

Student:

Roza Bidshahri

Partner:

Boreal Genomics

Discipline:

Genetics

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

University of British Columbia