The new NimbleGen comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) HD2 arrays follow on the heals of Roche NimbleGen’s recent launch of CGH 4x72K arrays, aimed at improving sample throughput for large-scale research projects in which hundreds or thousands of samples are screened for target sets of genomic loci or disease-associated regions.
These new multiplex arrays allow the parallel hybridization of four samples to four separate 72,000 long oligo probe arrays on a single slide, providing a cost-effective, increased throughput option for CGH analysis, the company said.
According to the company, the HD2 array platform greatly enhances the capability and resolution of CGH whole-genome analysis by providing a single array format containing 2.1 million long-oligo probes. With this increase in probe density, over five-fold higher than previous single 385,000-probe array designs, NimbleGen CGH HD2 arrays deliver a median probe spacing of 1.1kb genome-wide, providing the highest resolution yet reported, down to 5kb resolution.
Additional advances in the new NimbleGen CGH HD2 array designs include improved probe selection within low-copy repeat regions that were previously inaccessible, providing substantially broader coverage of the entirety of complex genomes such as human and murine.
Gerd Maass, CEO of Roche NimbleGen, said: “The launch of these new CGH array formats greatly expands the options for CGH analysis on the Roche NimbleGen platform for both broad, genome-wide analysis and targeted high resolution for both genomic variant discovery studies and large-scale sample screening.”