NanoArrays, The Next Generation Molecular Array Format for High Throughput Proteomics, Diagnostics and Drug Discover.

Biomolecular array technology is an invaluable tool for rapid screening of nucleic acid mixtures. This approach has been tremendously successful both in its breadth of application and its commercial value. Entire genomes, including the human genome, have been screened by molecular array techniques. Arrays are a rapid and now routine method for analysis of expression patterns and their association with physiological states. Such a rapid, high throughput analysis of cellular expression is key to the expansion of our basic knowledge of the relationship between gene expression and organismal function, as well as to the understanding of the genetic component of disease states and the predisposition to disease.Despite the success of array technology for nucleic acid applications, a similar trend for proteins has not occurred. Due, in part, to the difficulties involved in production and labeling of proteins for solid state analysis, solid state arrays of proteins are not widely utilized. Protein function and interaction have been traditionally addressed by the combination of 2D gel electrophoretic separation and mass spectrometry to examine individual protein spots, a slow, tedious and expensive process. Another approach uses in vivo methods for examining protein-protein interactions by the two-hybrid system in yeast and mammalian cells 1]. Although the two-hybrid system has shown some success in finding new interaction between proteins in important cellular pathways, it is far more difficult, costly and time consuming than the solid state methods used for nucleic acids.BioForce Laboratory, Inc., has developed a solid state method for examining the interaction between a wide range of molecules in an array format. This technology involves several key technological innovations.