For 1995 the committee is preparing an oligo-nucleotide synthesis study. The committee will request that ABRF members synthesize the same 25-base and 50-base oligonucleotides. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, both sequences will be examined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and capillary electrophoresis to evaluate variability in synthesizer performance. Second, the 25-base oligonucleotide will be used to determine the reliability of unpurified oligonucleotides as DNA sequencing primers. Our past results have shown considerable variation in how oligonucleotides are purified, and there are conflicting views on the need for purification. Examining how a large number of different oligonucleotide preparations perform under uniform sequencing conditions should provide some interesting information about this controversy. This study will complement our 1993 study, which examined how well different laboratories could sequence a standard template using their own primers and instrumentation.
The Nucleic Acids Research Committee would like to welcome Karl Hager, who joined our committee in January of this year. Karl supervises the DNA sequencing group at the W.M. Keck Biotechnology Resource Laboratory at Yale University.
Finally, Richard Pon, the committee's chair, has been collecting a variety of tips for oligonucleotide synthesis and sequencing that may be of interest to the membership. A number of these appeared in the December 1994 ABRF News. Please forward any tips and suggestions directly to him (rtpon@acs.ucalgary.ca) or post them on the ABRF electronic mailing list (abrf@aecom.yu.edu) (Details on participating in the electronic mailing list are provided in the September 1994 ABRF News and on page 13 of this issue).
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