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The software is used to analyze kinases -- a type of enzymeinvolved in virtually every cellular function, from energy use andreproduction to modifying gene expression. Licensing of thepatented technology is currently underway, and a demonstration ofits effectiveness recently appeared in the journal Science Signalling . "This is a premiere example of what can be achieved throughinterdisciplinary and collaborative research," says Kusalik, aprofessor in the computer science department. Kinases are often involved in cellular functions that go awry, suchas when pathogens such viruses or bacteria "hijack" acell's functions for their own purposes. Pathogens also havekinases of their own. "Kinases have a central role in controlling cellular processesand are associated with many diseases. They're logical points forunderstanding biology and represent important treatmenttargets," says Napper, an associate professor of biochemistrywith the U of S and senior scientist at the Vaccine and InfectiousDisease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac). The standard lab tool in kinase research is the microarray, whichallows researchers to analyze many different kinases within asample simultaneously. A microarray looks like a standardmicroscope slide with rows of spots, each spot representing adifferent molecular test. "With older methods, it was like having a little flashlight ina cave -- you can see, but it doesn't tell you all that isthere," Napper says. "These arrays give you the wholepicture -- but you end up with absolutely mountains of data." The problem for Napper and fellow VIDO-InterVac senior scientistPhilip Griebel was that the mountains of data were making no sense.Griebel is also a faculty member with the U of S School of PublicHealth. "They knew there were problems with the methodology they werefollowing, because the results 'weren't working out,' but theydidn't have sufficient expertise in bioinformatics to come up withan alternate method. That's where we came in," Kusalik says. Kusalik is an expert in bioinformatics, which is the application ofcomputers and information technology to biology and medicine. Onewell-known application of bioinformatics is DNA sequencing,including the Human Genome Project. For Kusalik, the problem wasn't the volume of data, but how it wasbeing handled. Standard software for analyzing DNA microarraysdoesn't work well with other microarrays. He explains that it'slike using a descrambler box from one cable company to try watchtelevision from another company. You might get fuzzy glimpses ofthe picture, but it will be impossible to view the entire programwith any clarity. The solution was to build software tailor-made for kinases. "By developing a technique specifically designed for kinasemicroarrays we are able to get more data, and with moreaccuracy," Kusalik says. This claim is borne out in the research described in the ScienceSignalling paper, as well as by colleagues in the field. Nappersays that other research groups have approached them to run theirexisting data sets through the new software. "It's very brave of them -- it may prove some of their earlierconclusions wrong," he says. "We're going to leave it up to other people to decide if theywant to re-analyze their data. I bet there's a lot more interestingbiology that's going to come out of their studies." This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of HealthResearch (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering ResearchCouncil of Canada (NSERC) and the Canada Research Chairs program.Additional funding was provided through Genome Canada and theAlberta Meat and Livestock Agency (ALMA). The Beef Cattle ResearchCouncil is also funding further work to apply this technology tovarious livestock diseases. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Walk Through Metal Detectors , China Rfid Card Readers, and more. For more , please visit Time Attendance Access Control System today!
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