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UHNMAC arrays: overview & faq
Several types of experiments, including gene expression, differential methylation hybridisation (DMH), chromatin immunoprecipitation-on-microarrays (ChIP-on-Chip), and even array CGH can be performed using the UHNMAC array platform. Our goal is to provide a complete microarray service to academic and commercial researchers.
See the UHNMAC Array List
Please note: Due to reduced demand of our in-house printed cDNA microarrays, they will be
discontinued by July 31st, 2010. They will only be made available for on-going projects with minimum order
requirement. Please contact
for details.
Services at a glance:
- Gene Expression
- ChIP-on-chip
- DNA Methylation
Pricing: Please contact us. (last updated: January 2011)
Please note that this pricing is for academic groups. Commercial customers should contact us for a quote.
Contact:
Please note that special paperwork is required for shipping
biological samples from locations outside of Canada. For the Customs documentation that you will need, please
download this form 
.
Once you send us this information, the UHN Customs Officer will generate the appropriate Customs document and
send it to you via e-mail. This document must be included with the waybill on your package.
Quick questions:
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- How many replicate experiments should I do?
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We recommend doing a minimum of three replicates. For UHNMAC Services, three replicates are required if data analysis is to be performed. Three replicates is the minimum number of replicates required before analysis can be performed with even minimal confidence.
- What is the difference between a technical replicate and a biological replicate? Which type is best?
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A biological replicate involves isolating RNA independently from replicate sources (multiple patients, multiple biopsies from an individual patient, etc). The purpose of a biological replicate is to control for biological diversity. Biological replicates are often more telling, and for this reason are “better” than technical replicates, however, biological replicates are often more difficult to obtain.
A technical replicate would be a multiple labeling or reciprocal labelling of the same RNA sample. This replicate may be useful in some cases (when one slide has poor signal for example) but it has little true statistical value when the experiment works. - I only have enough RNA to do two experiments. Should I request a reciprocal labelling?
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With the Indirect Labelling method (where amino-allyl dUTP is incorporated and the dye is conjugated after the reverse transcription reaction), we have found that reciprocal labelling is not necessary, especially when there is only enough sample for two experiments. Reciprocal labelling is recommended when directly labelling cDNA as the dyes are incorporated with different efficiencies. This is the reason we highly recommend indirect labelling for all two-colour experiments.
- How much total RNA is required for labelling?
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We require a minimum 10 μg of total RNA at a minimum concentration of 1 μg/μL, per standard labelling reaction. We also require additional total RNA for analysis using the Agilent Bioanalyzer. RNA amplification can also be performed on 20 pg of total RNA.
- What steps are taken to ensure the least amount of variability?
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In microarray experiments, one of the largest sources of variability is the technician performing them. All of our technicians are experienced, highly trained individuals and, whenever possible, the same technician will perform all experiments in a project. Whenever possible, we use arrays from the same print batch, reagents from the same lot, and use the same equipment (hyb oven, scanners, etc) to reduce array-to-array variability