Jue Lin, PhD, PI
Research Biochemist, Laboratory of Elizabeth Blackburn
Director of Telomere Core
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of California, San Francisco
This project will optimize pre-analytical and analytical conditions for qPCR, focusing on three specimen types: whole blood, the most commonly used specimen for TL in population-based studies; dried blood spots (DBS), a non-invasive collection method widely used to collect neonatal samples, and saliva, another non-invasive home collection method. Specifically, this project will 1) Determine the best DNA extraction method(s) for whole blood, dried blood spots and saliva; 2) Develop quality control criteria for DNA samples including DNA concentration, integrity and OD260/OD280 and OD260/OD230 ratios; 3) Test the effects of DNA storage time and storage temperature; 4) Compare different commercial assay master mixes. As an additional objective, the proposed project aims to create a set of fully characterized quality control (QC) DNA samples and a reference standard genomic DNA sample, to be used as shared resources for labs that measure TL via qPCR.
TEAM MEMBERS
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Belinda L. Needham, PhD, M.A. Co-IAssociate Professor, Epidemiology |
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Stephen Gregorich, PhD, Co-IProfessor |
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Dana SmithSpecialist, Laboratory of Elizabeth Blackburn |
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Calvin WuStaff Research Associate, Laboratory of Elizabeth Blackburn |