An Advanced DNA Microarraying Facility and Biochips Laboratory has been established. A 144 sq. ft. class 1,000 bioclean room has been constructed within laboratory EGRB 345. The clean room has been certified at class 130 and is expected to operate around class 300-400. The facility has been equipped with a Packard Instruments MultiPROBE II HT automated pipetting robot that is integrated with a DNA Engine Thermal Cycler for PCR, a Cartesian Technologies PixSys 5500SQ Pin Array and Liquid Dispensing System for DNA Microarray and Biochip fabrication, Packard Instruments ScanArray 4000 biochip imager and an Applied Biosystems 371 DNA Synthesis Machine. This facility will be used in the production of oligo and cDNA microarrays for the study of differential gene expression in various solid tumors and for the production of various biochips involving the spotting of biomolecules, sub-cellular fragments and whole cells onto microfabricated chips.

BioChips 2002, Richmond, Virginia. The Knowledge Foundation and the C3B have agreed to host the next BioChips 2002 in Richmond. The BIOCHIPS 2002 Technology Development and Application Conference and the BioChips 2002 Hands-on Workshop will be held March 18-20, Richmond, VA, USA.

Publications and Patent Disclosures

The following patents have been filed with the US Patent and Trademark office:

The following pre-publication manuscripts are now available for review by C3B members.

1.      Sean Brahim, Dyer Narinesingh and Anthony Guiseppi-Elie “Composite hydrogels containing polypyrrole as support membranes for amperometric enzyme biosensors” J. Macromolecular Science (submitted for publication)

2.      Sean Brahim, Dyer Narinesingh and Anthony Guiseppi-Elie “Amperometric determination of cholesterol in serum using a cholesterol oxidase biosensor with a polypyrrole / hydrogel membrane” Analytica Chimica Acta. (submitted  for publication)

Proposals

A proposal entitled "In vivo Biosensor for Monitoring of Metabolites" has been submitted to the National Institutes of Health.
Authors: Sean Brahim Ph.D. (C3B), Kevin Ward M.D. (VCURES) and Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, Sc.D. (C3B) (PI). This proposal is based on ongoing collaboration between the C3B and VCURES.

A proposal entitled "Acute Medical Crisis Support Program for Long Duration Space Flight" was submitted on Aug 28th to NASA Research Opportunities for Flight Experiments in Space Life Sciences and Space Sciences.
Authors: Azhar Rafiq (PI) (MITAC), R. Merrell (MITAC), C. Doran (MITAC), R. Hobson (C3B), A. Docef (C3B) and E. Hughes (C3B). This proposal is based on ongoing collaboration between the C3B and MITAC.

NEWS ITEMS

CTRF Funding received. Proposed work on Cancer Genomics. The C3B representatives will participate in tissue collection, data analysis and quality control.

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) and researchers at three Virginia universities have launched the Initiative for Nanotechnology in Virginia (INanoVA). Partners in the initiative are James F. Groves, director of research and industrial programs at the University of Virginia (UVa); Harry C. Dorn, director of the Center for Self-Assembled Nano-Devices (CSAND) at Virginia
Tech; Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, director of the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors, and Biochips (C3B) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU); Gary E. Wnek, Chair of Chemical Engineering at VCU and Director of the Electroactive Materials and Biosystems Laboratory; and Robert Hull, director of the Center for Nanoscopic Materials Design at UVa. The initiative will focus on documenting and expanding Virgnina's infrastructure to accommodate and promote advances in nanotechnology.

Dr. Gary E. Wnek, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Project Manager for the  Neuro-biosensors, Neural Materials and NeuroChip project of the C3B's Biosensor Thrust Area, will speak on the topic "Nanotechnology and the Future of Medicine" at the The Virginia Biotechnology Convention and Governor's Conference on Human Genomics, the Family and the Law. Monday, October 22 and Tuesday October 23, 2001 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia.

Dr. Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Emergency Medicine and will address the Frontiers of Nanostructured Systems: Building Partnerships Across Virginia And Beyond at the Omni Hotel, Charlottesville, Virginia October 14th -16th, 2001. His topic: "Nano-Bio: Nanotechnology's Intersection with Biotechnology"

Ms. Stephanie Smith has joined the C3B as a Laboratory Technician and will work principally in the Biochips Laboratory and DNA Microarraying Facility under the multi-investigator CTRF Cancer Genomics grant. Stephanie comes to us form Texas where she attended Texas A&M University and completed the B.S. (Cum Laude) in Biomedical Science.