The ultimate goal of this research program is the development and commercialization of an ultraminiaturized, ultrasensitive, solid state, molecular analysis platform technology. This """"""""NanoArray"""""""" technology is based on the direct interrogation of molecular interactions events in nanometer scale spatial arrays in real time without the use of any extrinsic label or molecular reporter system. It has broad ranging applications in molecular diagnostics, genomics, proteomics, and drug discovery with significant advantages in terms of reduction in materials costs and waste generated, increased throughput and sensitivity, and conceptual simplicity. Two components of the NanoArray technology will be developed. In Phase I, a prototype NanoArrayer will be constructed and used to create spatial arrays of molecules in nanometer scale addressable domains. The milestone goal of Phase I is to use this NanoArrayer to create a 10x10 array of a single molecular species and a 4x4 array of 4 different molecular species. In Phase lI the focus will shift to construction and testing of a NanoArray reader based on the principles of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and improvements in the NanoArrayer design and NanoArray construction methodology.
Commercial applications of this technology include; high throughput screening of ligand/target interactions on solid state arrays, DNA-protein interaction screening, and solid state molecular diagnostics.
