PC Program for Automated Analysis of Stained DNA Gels 



Jeffrey M. Stiegman 



BioPhotonics Corporation. Ann Arbor. Ml 4X106 

 (313)426-8299 



Electronic image processing of one-dimensional ( 1-D) or two-dimensional (2-D) 

 electrophoretic gels requires specialized software for analysis. Although several 

 commercially available packages provide generic image enhancement and spatial 

 analysis, a high degree of user modification is necessary to produce useful data for 1 -D 

 or 2-D gels. Dedicated software for electrophoretic gels has focused primarily on 2-D 

 protein separation. However, the application of electronic image analysis to 1-D 

 separations of DNA fragments has received relatively little attention. 



The goal of the BioPhotonics Corporation project is to develop computer software for 

 capturing, enhancing, and documenting electronically acquired images of 1-D 

 electrophoretic separations of tluorescently stained DNA fragments and for sub- 

 sequently converting this data to molecular weight and concentration information to be 

 used for statistical analysis and restriction fragment mapping. The emphasis of this 

 project is to automate fully the procedures for locating band positions, detennining 

 relative DNA concentration, calculating molecular weights, and analyzing migration 

 abnormalities. This approach will provide improvement in time and accuracy many 

 times over that of manual methods. 



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