Major Advances in Microarrays

Microarrays have emerged as means tools for research in all sectors of life science, together with large and small pharmacy, biotechnology firms, and academic departments. "One of the major advances we've seen in the last couple of years is the move from micro arrays being a very particular research tool useful only in top academic labs and a few big corporate centers to being a very robust, high superiority tool that scientists can use to get answers.

Microarrying comes in two flavors: do-it-yourself and off-the-shelf. Patrick Brown's laboratory at Stanford University led the way for the do-it-yourself array makers. Preliminary about 10 years ago, Brown and his colleagues urbanized several protocols for fabricating DNA arrays, which he made obtainable during the Internet for researchers who required preparing their own.

Since then several companies have urbanized the tools and systems that scientists need to build their own arrays. Users who want to make their own small laboratories on a slide can buy nylon membranes and covered glass slides, colony pickers and array spotters, hybridization chambers, scanners, and analytical software from such suppliers as Amersham, Genetix, and Millipore. "As arraying has become more widespread, chiefly in the academic neighborhood, there's been a need to present good, low-cost gear for users," says Mark Truesdale, senior applications specialist at Genetix. "Little years ago, the average arrayer for clients to spot their own arrays cost about $80,000. That cost has plummeted in the past 12 to 18 months."

Customers also look for complete packages for their do-it-yourself arrays. "We offer a complete spotting and scanning package at a list price of about $75,000," says Truesdale. "We have also urbanized the technicalities of print heads for our spotter and new chillers for samples held in the arrayers. clients have driven a lot of those development."