National Network for Genome-Scale Analysis of Gene Structure and Function: The Norwegian Microarray Consortium

The Norwegian Microarray Consortium is a scientist-initiated institutional collaboration between the Norwegian Radium Hospital/University of Oslo, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and the University of Bergen, initiated to establish a complete infrastructure for DNA microarray-based technology. Through efficient national work-sharing, flexible management of resources, and international collaboration, the most basic needs have been achieved with limited resources. We now offer high quality human-, rat- and mouse cDNA microarrays at low rates to Norwegian academic groups, as well as to commercial and foreign institutions. We also have initiated a biomedical and bioinformatic scientific network, and the participating groups have acquired a high level of competence in microarray analysis. We now apply for resources to develop the platform-associated technologies further, to extend the funding of our core facilities and to make the technology more accessible outside the participating groups. Necessary components to achieve this will be resources for education and user support, data logistics, and bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, we aim at extending our abilities to cover other array methodologies, such as oligonucleotide- and genomic arrays, and to increase the production capacity to be able to print arrays for other species from the microbial-, agricultural- and marine fields. Through this proposal, we make the present resources of the Consortium available to the FUGE objectives in Norway.