(基因芯片　 生物谷配图)
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       美国疾病控制和预防中心以及科罗拉多州大学的研究人员最近开发和研制出了一种新的流感分析芯片FluChip，它是一种以基因芯片为基础的化验，将使更多的实验室拥有诊断流感感染的能力。

        在一项研究中，FluChip检测了72个流感株，其中包括H5N1禽流感株，并且在12小时内获得检测结果。研究人员发现FluChip能经前诊断72％的病毒株型和亚型。有10％的病毒株只正确诊断出病毒型。

        与传统的分析方法不同，FluChip能用于对水平的生物安全设备中。美疾控中心希望这种新的芯片将会使更多的实验室能够确定不同地域新出现的病毒，以及特定病毒是否来源于人类。这些研究对保护国家安全具有重要意义，并且可能为抵抗流感提供一种新的工具。这项研究的发现刊登在8月的Journal  of  Clinical  Microbiology杂志上。

英文原文：

CDC Unveils the FluChip

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed a microchip-based test that distinguishes between flu strains and can even help trace the strains back to their origins.

The FluChip can be used to identify 72 influenza strains—including the H5N1 avian influenza strain that is currently of such concern—in fewer than 12 hours.

This technology can be used to make sophisticated influenza diagnostic capabilities more widely available to labs around the globe, not just concentrated with the CDC and a few major international laboratories.

"The ability to quickly and accurately identify strains of influenza would be invaluable to international flu surveillance efforts," said National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.

The FluChip is a microarray, commonly called a gene chip. Microarrays can be made by using a robotic arm to drop hundreds or thousands of spots of genetic material—DNA or RNA—of known sequence onto a microscope slide.

The spots, called probes, are then exposed to a sample of unknown composition—for instance, material taken from a person with an undiagnosed illness.

Probes that match gene sequences of bacteria or viruses present in the sample result in capture of the target gene. By analyzing the pattern of captured targets, doctors can diagnose the cause of infection.

Researchers started with nearly 5,000 flu gene sequences, and then they used the data mining process to select 55 flu RNA sequences for use as probes on the FluChip.