ASTRAL, A HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING DNA SEQUENCER

We are developing a prototype automatic DNA sequencer which utilizes p olyacrylamide slab gels imaged through a novel optical detection syste m. The design of this prototype sequencer allows the ability to perfor m direct optical coupling over the entire read area of the gel and hyp erspectrographic separation and detection of the fluorescence emission . The machine has no moving parts. All the major components incorporat ed in this prototype are all currently available ''off the shelf,'' th us reducing equipment development time and decreasing costs. Software developed for data acquisition, analysis, and conversion to other stan dard formats facilitates compatibility. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.