Collaboration with Chromatrap leads to step change in efficiency and scope of epigenetic research

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Scientists at Swansea University’s College of Medicine, working in collaboration with Porvair plc, have co-developed and taken to market Chromatrap® 96 (C96) – a product which is designed to enable researchers to perform many Chromatinimmunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments simultaneously.

ChromatrapimageChIP is a technique used to study the association of specific proteins with defined genomic regions and it is crucial to epigenetic research.

Epigenetics is the study of gene information and its characteristics and its application is used in essential research for diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s. The overall application of epigenetics remains in its infancy.

The Chromatrap® 96 is set to make a major contribution to epigenetic research on a global scale, offering researchers unprecedented assay flexibility and speed.

The research is featured this month on the front page of leading life sciences journal Nature Methods online and the full feature can be found here http://www.nature.com/app_notes/nmeth/2014/140909/pdf/nmeth.f.372.pdf.

Professor Steve Conlan, Head of Reproductive Biology and Gynaecological Oncology Research, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the College of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Centre for NanoHealth, said: “Our collaboration with Porvair has led to the development of a technical advancement that is allowing us to streamline our epigenetics research by enabling faster and more accurate experiments necessary to understand disease processes and therapeutic developments.”

The group’s research is explained in this short video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0uhdtVAoQQ.

Dr Amy Beynon of Porvair said: “Chromatrap streamlines the ChIP process making it a simple, efficient and easy assay to perform. The C96 format provides customers with huge flexibility and greater reproducibility. We are the only company to provide a format in which 96 ChIP assays can be processed in just one day.

“Excellent feedback from customers and a growing database we hope to provide a step change in ChIP and its use for clinical research.”