The Report 'Comparative Genomic Hybridization: Current State and Future Directions' Explains the Technology, Assesses Its Limitations and Challenges and Compares It to Prevailing Analytical Approaches.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c44580) has announced the addition of Comparative Genomic Hybridization: Current State and Future Directions to their offering.

If you've not yet heard of Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH), you will soon. This fast growing technique for analyzing genomic information by focusing on the differences in the number of sequence copies is firmly established in basic research and is making swift inroads into the clinic. Peggy Eis, PhD, director of the array CGH business at NimbleGen contends that "Information from SNPs is not the only way to look at the genome." Copy Number Polymorphisms (CNPs) will become a valuable tool for defining relative phenotypes in a population. CGH will eventually play a significant role in the $10 billion molecular diagnostics market, not least in tracking the pathogenesis of, and detecting and monitoring cancer.

Comparative Genomic Hybridization: Current State and Future Directions explains the technology, assesses its limitations and challenges, compares it to prevailing analytical approaches, and examines CGH's current and impending applications in human health care. Among the findings in this report:

CGH is well positioned, particularly in view of some recent acquisitions, to dominate the $1.5 billion cytogenetics market, including conventional chromosome banding and FISH.

-- CGH's first health care applications are in assisted reproductive technologies, prenatal diagnosis, and diagnosing inherited developmental disorders. Combimatrix will offer molecular diagnostic tests for mental retardation that incorporate CGH and gene expression profiling.

-- As its precision and reliability are proven, CGH will make further inroads into the clinic. For instance, it will provide clinicians with a way to stratify cancers, revealing distinct subgroups based on CGH pattern - a first step toward personalized medicine.

-- There has been considerable recent growth in model organism CGH - identifying knockouts, mapping the deletion mutants, and using CGH to home in.

A survey (N=66) conducted by the author in August 2006 of individuals involved with CGH at biopharmaceutical and diagnostic firms, vendors of equipment and services, and academic research departments sheds light on current practices and future directions in the use of CGH in pharmaceutical R&D. Among the highlights:

-- Cancer leads all other CGH applications in both basic research and in the clinic

-- 94% of respondents believe that CGH will become a routine part of clinical testing within the next 5 years, with 42% predicting a 2-year time frame.

A surge in the use of CGH will not only benefit life science researchers - it will also provide tool vendors with an opportunity to sell specialized arrays and other technologies for whole genome profiling. Comparative Genomic Hybridization: Current State and Future Directions profiles the major vendors and their CGH product offerings. The report concludes with in-depth interviews with experts in industry and academia, providing authoritative insight into the scientific, medical and commercial aspects of CGH.

The Comparative Genomic Hybridization Survey -

1.  Please classify your organization.
2.  Please classify how you organization is involved with CGH.
3.  If your use of CGH is in basic research, please indicate the
    appropriate field(s).
4.  If you application of CGH is clinical, please indicate the
    appropriate field(s).
5.  If you use CGH in reproduction research, please indicate which
    field(s) your laboratory investigates or which technique it
    utilizes.
6.  If you use CGH to investigate inherited developmental disorders,
    please indicate which one(s) are studied in your laboratory.
7.  If you use CGH in cancer research, please indicate in which
    area(s) your lab applies CGH.
8.  Please indicate which type(s) of cancers your laboratory analyzes
    using CGH.
9.  When do you think that copy number will become part of clinical
    testing beyond investigational uses?
10. Do you think that CGH holds greater promise than SNP genotyping
    as a means of enabling personalized medicine?
11. Which of the following products do you use in CGH research?
12. Do you assemble components or use a multistep kit?
13. Do you use a system that also incorporates genotyping?
14. Do you use a system that also incorporates gene expression
    analysis?
15. What factor(s) do you consider when selecting products and
    devices for CGH experiments?
16. What is(are) your source(s) of cells?
17. Which method(s) of DNA amplification do you use with CGH?
18. Which fluorescent DNA labels do you use with CGH?
19. If you use microarrays, please indicate how extensive their
    coverage(s) is(are).
20. What elements are on you CGH microarrays?


About the Author
Ricki Lewis has a PhD in genetics and is the author of several life
science textbooks for McGraw-Hill Higher Education. She has written
for many publications and is a genetic counselor.

Content Outline:

SECTION 1
CGH Highlights Copy Number Differences

SECTION 2
The Scope of CGH Technology

SECTION 3
Applications of CGH

SECTION 4
Expert Interviews

SECTION 5
Selected Company Profiles

APPENDIX

Tables & Figures

Companies Mentioned:
- Affymetrix
- Agilent
- Invitrogen Corp.
- Molecular Devices Corp.
- NimbleGen Systems Inc.
- Signature Genomic Labs, LLC

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c44580.