Molecular Analysis Platforms
Molecular Analysis Platforms
Technological innovation and next-generation sequencing (NGS) play a fundamental role in precision medicine. INT is at the forefront for applying NGS technologies in diagnosis and translational research to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets, as well as for patient stratification by mutational analysis. Thanks to cutting-edge instrumentation, INT promotes basic and translational research in the field of precision medicine, and supports therapeutic decisions and diagnosis. The following technologies are available at the Department of Advanced Diagnostics:
- DNA and RNA extraction from fresh/fresh-frozen/FFPE tissue samples, as well as from cell lines and plasma (liquid biopsy) (QIAcube and QIASymphonySP, Qiagen);
- Quantification and quality assessment of nucleic acids (4200 Tapestation, Agilent;
- Nanodrop and Qubit, Thermo Fisher);
- Library preparation, quantification and sequencing for NGS approaches on FFPE/fresh-frozen tumor and plasma samples (liquid biopsy), both with ThermoFisher and Illumina solutions;
- Gene expression profiling analysis, with microarray-based technologies (Gene Chip System 3000, Affymetrix, Thermo Fisher), RNAseq (Illumina, Takara and Lexogen library preparations kits) and NanoString technologies (nCounter, Nanostring);
- Spatial transcriptomic and proteomic experiments on tumor FFPE and frozen sections (GeoMx DSP, NanoString);
- Single cell RNAseq profiling (ChromiumX, 10X Genomics);
- M220 Focused-ultrasonicator (Covaris) for DNA shearing;
- QuantStudio 12K Flex Real-Time PCR System with Twister Automation Robot for quantitative real-time PCR (Thermo Fisher);
- Ion Chef Instrument, Ion PGM and Ion S5XL (Thermo Fisher) and NextSeq 500 (Illumina) for NGS applications; Hamilton Microlab STARlet for liquid handling.