Yeast Barcode Array Consortium

Jef Boeke's lab, in collaboration with others, had developed a methodology for large scale synthetic lethality analysis, called SLAM (Synthetic Lethality Analysis by Microarray). This technique took advantage of the unique barcodes (or tags) that identify each mutant strain in the yeast knockout collection by profiling pools of mutant strains with microarrays whose design is based on these unique barcodes.

As these arrays were generally useful to the research community, a consortium was established to enable researchers to purchase the arrays from the manufacturer. Academic researchers were to receive a special discount.

However, the manufacturer no longer produces this array design, therefore the consortium is defunct.

For more information (e.g. protocols, materials, etc) about these arrays, see the SLAM home page, the SLAM FAQ page, or the SLAM publication list at Johns Hopkins University, where they provide much useful information about protocols, annotation files (see FAQ below), and more.

Note: As of 2007, this array design is no longer being produced.

Q: Whither the consortium???

A: The purchasing agreement has expired and the arrays are no longer sold. As such, researchers are encouraged instead to document and share information at the Microarray methods for profiling the Yeast Knockout (YKO) Collection wiki page.

Q: Where can I acquire the design files for the original Agilent arrays, so that I can analyze my acquired images?

A: Johns Hopkins maintains the most recently annotated array-design files. For your convenience, there are direct links to these files below:

For Agilent scanners, slide orientation "DNA back, bardcode left"	For GenePix scanners, slide orientation "DNA front, bardcode bottom"
GEML (0.7 MB) MAGE-ML (2.9 MB)	GAL (0.25 MB)

For other questions about:

• the SLAM technique (wet-bench/technical or necomputational questions, specifics about the arrays, etc.):
  see the SLAM contact page at Johns Hopkins.