Microarray

A Venn diagram outlining and contrasting some aspects of the fields of bio-MEMS, lab-on-a-chip, μTAS.

A microarray is a multiplex lab-on-a-chip. It is a 2D array on a solid substrate (usually a glass slide or silicon thin-film cell) that assays large amounts of biological material using high-throughput screening methods. The concept and methodology of microarrays was first introduced and illustrated in antibody microarrays (also referred to as antibody matrix) in 1983 in a scientific publication and a series of patents. As the "gene chip" industry started to grow in the 1990's, with the establishment of companies, such as Affymetrix, Illumina, and others, the technology of DNA microarrays has become the most sophisticated and the most widely used.

Types of microarrays include:

• DNA microarrays, such as cDNA microarrays, oligonucleotide microarrays and SNP microarrays
• MMChips, for surveillance of microRNA populations
• Protein microarrays
• Peptide microarrays, for detailed analyses or optimization of protein-protein interactions
• Tissue microarrays
• Cellular microarrays (also called transfection microarrays)
• Chemical compound microarrays
• Antibody microarrays
• Carbohydrate arrays (glycoarrays)
• Phenotype microarrays
• interferometric reflectance imaging sensor (IRIS)

People in the field of CMOS biotechnology are developing new kinds of microarrays. Once fed magnetic nanoparticles, individual cells can be moved independently and simultaneously on a microarray of magnetic coils. A microarray of nuclear magnetic resonance microcoils is under development.