An important development in medicine has been the ability to quickly and reliably screen individuals for diseases and more recently genetic markers which may pre-dispose individuals to develop illnesses during their lifetime. The development of clinical diagnostics based on gene expression profiles is approaching maturation due to genetic information gathered by the Human Genome Project, the generation of animal models to study human disease and many other genomic and proteomic approaches being applied to decipher the molecular pathogenisis of disease over the last decade. One product of these advances is the need to increase probe densities on microarray surfaces. STS Biopolymers is developing a three-dimensional surface treatment (GRAFT-COATTM) that will allow an increase in the density of genetic markers onto microarrays. The Phase I portion of this project will determine the variables that determine the sensitivity and dynamic range of GRAFT-COATTM. microarray surfaces. Surfaces capable of binding a range of protein and genetic probes will be prepared. Finally, the performance of GRAFT-COATTM microarrays printed with protein and DNA probes will be compared to those of surfaces used currently. In Phase II we will focus on coating formulations providing the highest sensitivity and broadest dynamic range for further development and miniaturization.
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