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Challenge Team Abstract
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Team Number:003 School Name: Sandia Preparatory School Area of Science: biochemistry Project Title: Pattern Analysis of Results from Flow Cytometry Data |
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The objective of our project is to quickly analyze data collected from a flow cytometer. Flow cytometry measures physical and chemical characteristics of cells or other biological particles while the cells or particles are in a fluid stream. Fluorescent dyes are used to tag these entities which then pass through the flow cytometer in a laser beam one by one at a steady rate. The different fluorescent colors are separated by dichroic mirrors, a photomultiplier amplifies the signal of the photons, and filters help keep the scattered light to a minimum within the flow cytometry apparatus.
Once collected, the data from many, potentially thousands, of separate samples has to be evaluated. Our program would replace the current system of manual analysis, thus aiding the advance of drug discovery.
Flow cytometry can detect cell reactions and responses. With this technology, it is possible to identify the presence of an antagonist in a sample and use this information to extrapolate the amount of the antagonist in the bloodstream of a subject or animal. These antagonists are potential drug candidates. They can block certain reactions between target receptors and ligands. If the computer can compare data from different samples, it would speed up the process of drug discovery.
We have not decided on the final parameters that will define the scope of our programming project. We plan to start by making a program to compare small amounts of information from the flow cytometer. When we are comfortable with this, we will expand the program to accomodate larger amounts of data.
Team Members
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Project Advisor(s)
- Larry Sklar
