Microarray Analysis Service

The Microarray Analysis Service (SAM), with the AffymetrixGeneChip® research and diagnostics platform, offers an integrated service for cytogenetic, genomic and transcriptomic studies. The experimental services offered are the sample quality, quantification and microarray processing. Experimental design consultancy, statistical data analysis and orientation to its biological interpretation with specific tools are also included.

Arrays of human, mouse and other species are available.

Applications

• Discovery of biomarkers involved in biological processes

• Gene expression profile studies

• Detection of genes and pathways involved in diseases and pharmacological treatments

• Pharmacogenomics and toxicogenomics studies

• Alternative splicing detection

• Dose-effect studies

• Classification of samples based on gene signatures

• Predictive models associated with genes

• miRNA analysis

• Microarray analysis of degraded samples (ex: FFPE) and low quantity samples (from 500pg of total RNA)

Equipment

• Affymetrix Research Platform: GCS3000 with autoloader

• Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100

• NanoDrop 2000 Spectrophotometer

• GeneAmp PCR System 9700 (gold block) Thermocycler

• Qubit Fluorometer

• Proflex Thermocycler

• 2720 GeneAmp PCR System

Activity

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The services carried out correspond to the following centers:

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The Microarray Analysis Service is subscribed to the European Microarray Quality Control Programme, organized by the CEQA (Cytogenic European Quality Assessment).

Publications

• Pascual-Reguant L, Blanco E, Galán S, Le Dily F, Cuartero Y, Serra-Bardenys G, et al. Lamin B1 mapping reveals the existence of dynamic and functional euchromatin lamin B1 domains. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):3420. IF:12.353. Q1

Participation in research projects

• Regulación epigenética de la función inflamatoria del componente epitelial en la progresión metastática del carcinoma escamoso cutáneo (CEC)

- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI15/00236)

- Period: from 2016 to 2019

- Principal investigators: Toll, Agustí; Hernández, Inmaculada

• Validación clínica y mecanismos de acción de las alteraciones moleculares con valor predictivo de progresión en el cáncer de próstata: algoritmo molecular de la carcinogénesis prostática

- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI16PI15/00452)

- Period: from 2016 to 2019

- Principal investigator: Lloreta, Josep

• Desarrollo y validación de un panel de secuenciación para translocaciones y mutaciones con relevancia clinica en neoplasias de células B maduras

- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI15/00437)

- Period: from 2016 to 2020

- Principal investigator: Espinet, Blanca

• Micro-RNA as a novel biomarker of cardiovascular fibrosis in patients with degenerative aortic stenosis

- Marató (201519 10)

- Period: from 2016 to 2019

- Principal investigator: Benito, Begoña

• Ajuts per donar suport a les activitats dels grups de recerca (SGR)

- Grup de Recerca Traslacional en Neoplàsies Hematològiques (GRETNHE) (SGR

437)

- Period: from 2017 to 2020

- Principal investigator: Espinet, Blanca

• Influencia de las concentraciones de compuestos tóxicos persistentes sobre la mortalidad, la incidencia de trastornos crónicos y la expresión de miARN en población general

- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI17/00088)

- Period: from 2018 to 2020

- Principal investigator: Porta, Miquel

Fundings

• Grants for Thechnical Support Personnel Contracts. MINECO (PTA2014-09119-I). 2015-2019.

• Grants for the promotion of “empleo joven e implantación de la Garantía Juvenil”: Implementation of new protocols for difficult samples and microarray data analysis. MINECO (PEJ-2014-A-15816). 2015-2017.

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BIOBANC MARBiobanc

The biobank of the Parc de Salut Mar (MARBiobanc) is a public, non-for-profit facility which stores various collections of biological samples available to the whole scientific community. It is organized as a technical unit with regards to quality, order and destination.

It has restricted access facilities which are equipped with the security control mechanisms necessary to ensure the correct storage of the biological samples, their confidentiality and their traceability in accordance with all the Spanish ethical and legal regulations.

The Biobank Service is certified by AENOR to ISO 9001:2015.

Available human biospecimen collections

• DNA bank for cardiovascular diseases

• Cerebral infarction (ictus) sample bank

• FORTIAM, acute myocardial infarction sample collection

• DNA bank for oncological diseases

• Bank of samples from influenza A (H1N1) patients

• Bank of lung disease samples (Lung Biobank Platform)

• Hematological malignancies bank

• Left over diagnose sample bank

• Cryopreserved tumour bank

• Collection Alzheimer and families (Alfa Study)

• ERyME: Sample collection from patients with rheumatic or muscle-skeletal disease

• GLOSEN: Glomerular diseases sample collection

• Colorectal cancer

Two new collections were incorporated:

• Plasma and serum samples (liquid biopsy) collection from patients with solid and haematological neoplasms

• Tumoroids collection from human colorectal cancer

Research line collections

• Three new research line collections have been added to the Biobank facility to be managed under biobank standards.

Activity

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There were 17 active services in 2018.

There were 7,276 new donors in 2018.

The Biobank is subscribed to the Biobanks European Quality Control Program, organized by the IBBL (Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg).

MARBiobanc is the first biobank in Spain to implement an evaluation as a way of controlling samples transferred to clinical trials and their future uses.

In addition, MARBiobanc reviews all the agreements with the pharmaceutical industry to prevent surpluses being used for unspecified research. This special and urgent evaluation system guarantees the necessary speed and control of samples used in clinical trials.

The Reference Laboratory of Catalonia (Laboratori de Referència de Catalunya-LCR) has been included in the MARBiobanc as a new node. This new node includes all residual samples obtained at the phlebotomy department.

Fundings

• New concession of the Biobanks Platform. Instituto de Salud Carlos III/FEDER (PT17/0015/0011). (2018-2020).

Dissemination

• 12 MARbiobanc dissemination sessions, including Openday and student visits.

• MARBiobanc Website. This website has been operational since June 2016. The website received a total of 1,472 visits from January to December 2018, with 879 new users. The pages most visited are in the Spanish language, followed by English.

• Creation the new BioBank Instagram channel (6-10-2018)

Publications 2018 with MARBiobanc samples

A total of 10 publications and a doctoral thesis have been done with samples obtained from MARBiobanc.

Microdissector Laser (microscopy area)

The ArcturusXT™ microdissection system offers a combination of infrared (IR) laser capture using standard slides, or a combination of both infrared and ultraviolet (IR and UV) laser, using polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) membrane slides laser enabled.

The instrument has a proprietary combination of a gentle IR laser and a powerful UV laser that work in conjunction to efficiently isolate cells without changing morphology or integrity of the biological content. The IR laser helps to capture the cells of interest, and the UV laser microdissects the captured cells. This is done without affecting the morphology of the cells, and allows for visual inspection of the remaining specimen to help ensure the quality of the sample collected. A wide-slide stage format is available for neurobiology researchers working with very large sections of brain tissue. The petri dish stage insert has opened the door for live-cell microdissection applications such as stem cell research and other rare-cell isolations.

The LCM technique can be used on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) sections, allowing the use of archival pathological material. In addition, frozen sections of tissue and cytological specimens are also suitable for laser microdissection. The technique causes no apparent alteration to the morphology of the chosen cells, which can be directly visualized after microdissection.

Key features

• Dual laser system-enables a wide range of applications ranging from single-cell isolation to large biopsy extractions.

• IR laser capture microdissection preserves morphology of isolated samples and integrity of biological material for downstream applications.

• Software enables rapid isolation of specific cells in five simple steps, provides quality control feature that allows users to visualize collected sample.

• Flexible sample prep-wide range of slide types and sample preparation formats supported.

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