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Institute of Medical Sciences

IMS Microarray Core facility (IMCF) - Service Overview

Service Charges (University of Aberdeen)

  • Processing one genome (including test3 array where applicable)/ tiling array £267
  • Processing one Test3 array £65
  • Access to Bioinformatics Suite FOC (UA staff/ students using the on-site Affymetrix Core Facility) or £100/user/annum (UA staff/students running arrays at off-site facilities)

This is not a profit making service and charges reflect costs incurred by ourselves in processing the GeneChips™ and maintaining the service contracts.

Included in Service

  • Processing Test3 GeneChip™: Service includes hybridisation of an aliquot of the prepared biotin-labelled cRNA on a Test3 GeneChip™ to determine the quality of the sample.

The Test3 GeneChip™ is a less expensive version of the full GeneChip™ expression array and contains sets of housekeeping genes and controls for each species for which full GeneChip™ expression arrays are available. Signal detection and image acquisition will be carried out as per the protocol for the genome GeneChip™ array. A report will be provided to the user for their reference and the quality of the sample will be assessed by the core facility staff from the Test3 report.

Users are recommended to run a Test3 GeneChip prior to analysis of their cRNA sample on a full genome array, which is significantly more expensive. The decision not to run a Test3 array lies entirely with the user. However, failure of the genome array for any reason will still incur full costs to the user. Our warranty with Affymetrix permits replacement of poor quality arrays caused by equipment or GeneChip™ faults. Data from the test3 array is required to obtain replacements, as this is necessary to confirm sample quality.

For information on access to and use of the Bioinformatics Suite, please refer to the Bioinformatics page.

Conditions of use

Preparation of labelled cRNA for hybridisation to the GeneChip™ is the responsibility of the user. The facility is able to offer advice (It is recommended that you make full use of this before starting), but is not actually involved in any part of sample preparation. All users should obtain the manual and technical tips from Elaina Collie-Duguid before starting sample preparation. High quality sample preparation is critical to the success of the microarrays. Please see the protocols tab for further details.

Users are recommended to run a Test3 GeneChip to test the quality of their labelled cRNA prior to running a full genome array (see above).

It is the responsibility of the user to confirm the quality of their cRNA prior to running a Test3 array. The facility will not be held responsible for failed experiments due to poor sample quality, and monies unfortunately cannot be refunded in such cases. Please stick to the protocol!

Costs for processing GeneChips and for Bioinformatics Suite registration are payable via QSP prior to the GeneChip being processed or access to the Bioinformatics Suite, respectively. Please raise an internal requisition.

Please refer to the following hyperlink for further details on sample preparation and booking the Affymetrix Core Facility service.