METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DETERMINING A SET OF NON-HYBRIDIZING OLIGONUCLEOTIDES

The invention provides a computerized method, associated apparatus, and computer program product for determining a set of non-hybridizing oligonucleotides. The invention represents a first oligonucleotide in the computer's memory, generates a set of oligonucleotides, including the first oligonucleotide, that meet a specified condition that determines whether the generated oligonucleotides will not hybridize with the first oligonucleotide. The invention also examines each of the generated oligonucleotides in the set to remove oligonucleotides from the set that hybridize with other nucleotides in the set. Thus, the invention develops a minimally cross-hybridizing set of oligonucleotides that can be used for tracking, identifying, and/or sorting classes or subpopulations of molecules by the user of oligonucleotide tags.