Abstract: The systems and methods described herein relate to nucleic acid probes comprising a a pattern of universal and designate nucleotides, or ‘gapped’ probes, and the use of sets of gapped probes in sequencing by hybridization to determine the sequence of nucleic acid sequences. The inclusion of universal nucleotides in the probes allows for efficient and rapid sequencing of longer nucleotide sequences than can be sequenced using traditional probes. The systems and methods described herein also relate to apparatus for sequencing nucleic acids which include gapped probes, as well as computer systems capable of analyzing data generated using gapped probes in such apparatus.

Abstract: The present provides a mammal in which the expression of one or more interleukin genes has been suppressed. More specifically, the invention concerns the inactivating deletion of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene to produce a knock-out non-human mammal with decreased or completely suppressed expression of the endogenous gene. The invention provides methods for preparing such knock-out mammals and methods of using the knock-out mammals to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic agents and regimens to treat diseases or disorders associated with perturbations in the interleukin pathways.

Abstract: The invention provides a method for engineering and selecting an active protease able to cleave a user-defined target amino acid sequence. The method is useful for designing proteases for medical therapeutics and industrial applications.