LabAutomation 2006 - SLAS

MP97
German Eichberger
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California
geichberger@ucsd.edu
e-nnovate e-notebook
Where Laboratory Technologies Emerge and Merge
Co-Author(s)
Farbod Rahaghi
Jared Goor
University of California, San Diego
We have designed a tool to assist the scientific researcher in the collection of data from, and the visualization of experiments, allowing easy
access to results obtained from collaborative researchers in multiple sub disciplines. We have aimed our system to assist the biomedical
research community in overcoming difficulties associated with accessing knowledge that may have been acquired previously. Our tool
automates many aspects of sharing data and planning experiments. Since we support multiple data formats, we are capable to deliver a
uniform view regardless how the data was acquired thereby allowing significant simplification in the storing of automatically acquired data.
When a new team member arrives, he or she can quickly gain an overview of the scope of the project and the approach taken so far. This will
help avoid repetition of previous experiments and will shorten the time it takes for new researchers joining the project to become productive.
We have implemented several schemes for data organization to facilitate changes in the direction of the project or interpreting results.
Additionally we are planning to continue our research to develop a suitable visualization of experiments, results, and how they relate to each
other. Our goal is to find a descriptive presentation for the biomedical research process itself, which will enable collaborative knowledge
management and provide easy access to disparate data.
We have developed in our preliminary research a web based collaboration tool to capture and share disparate data formats generated by
experiments combined with a powerful text search engine and digital signatures for authentication and security. The system is used in labs
reaching from cancer to engineering projects.
MP98
Menake E Piyasena
California State University, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
mpiyasena@cslanet.calstatela.edu
Co-Author
Frank A. Gomez
A Bead-Based Lab-on-a-Chip Device for the Detection of Vancomycin Binding
The antibiotic Vancomycin (Van) from Streptomyces orientalis is effective in treating infections caused by bacteria resistant to other
antibiotics. Van inhibits the growth of Gram-positive bacteria by binding to the D-Ala-D-Ala (DADA) moiety on the cell wall. The
development of resistance to antibacterial agents is an ever-increasing worldwide problem that threatens the chemical effectiveness of
drugs used in the treatment of many infectious diseases. Recent reports document the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacterial species
that are causing serious health problems particularly in third. Hence, the need for examining the Van system and for developing novel
modes of analysis. Development of high throughput techniques for these studies is important in many respects. Herein, we present a new
analysis method to study the binding of Van to DADA peptides via UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, we explore the
development of a microfluidic tool to investigate the binding of Van to DADA. Our ultimate goal is to develop a bead-based lab-on-a-chip
device integrating labeling, binding and detection steps all in a single microfluidic chip format. We utilized Van tagged micro-magnetic
beads as the receptors and fluorescent labeled DADA as our model ligands. The manipulation of an external magnetic source for capturing
and releasing of beads in microchannels prevents the use of internal frits allowing for reuse of the chips.
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