DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL DIGITAL REAL-TIME PCR ASSAYS FOR IMPROVED MEASUREMENTS OF BIOMOLECULES

Abstract

There is increasing popularity in the use of digital PCR in the field of precision medicine due to its high sensitivity and precision, and its ability to perform absolute quantitation through partitioning of samples into single copies. Telomere length is a promising biomarker for age-associated diseases and cancer, but there is a lack of a simple and rapid yet scalable method for measurement. I developed the single telomere absolute-length rapid (STAR) assay for rapidly measuring the absolute lengths and quantities of individual telomere molecules. The gut microbiome composition has been linked to many diseases and conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. However, current microbiome diagnostics technologies are slow and expensive, and the results are usually not quantitative. I developed the Split, Amplify and Melt analysis of BActeria-community (SAMBA) assay for rapidly identifying the different bacterial phylum and its proportion within the sample.