About the DNA microarray project

Welcome to the DNA microarray unit based in the Department of Plant Molecular Biology (DBMV). Dr Philippe Reymond is responsible for this project.

Genomic research has been accelerated by the development of the DNA microarray technology. This technology enables a researcher to analyze the expression of thousands of genes in a single experiment and provides quantitative measurements of the differential expression of these genes using a two-colour fluorescence labelling and detection procedure. Clearly, the technique provides a complement to genome projects and applications in different research fields that go from microbiology and medical research to plant or animal ecology can be envisaged.

Our research interest is the study of global gene expression in plant defense with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We are using the DNA microarray technology that was developed at Stanford University by the group of Professor Patrick O. Brown. We have printed several types of microarrays, including small-scale, dedicated arrays containing defense-related, electrophile- or insect-responsive genes, large-scale 12K EST array, and a full-genome array containing specific probes for all Arabidopsis genes (EC project CATMA).

The DNA microarray project has been funded by the Fondation Leenaards, the Fondation Sandoz, the Fondation Herbette, the Société Académique Vaudoise, the Fondation du 450e Anniversaire (UNIL), the Fonds UNIL-EPFL, and genomics grants from the University of Lausanne.

We are grateful to Prof. Shauna Somerville (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Dept. of Plant Biology, Stanford University, CA) for having introduced us to the DNA microarray technology.