Production of Protein Microarrays Using Robotic Pin Printing Technologies

Abstract

The increased numbers of potential drug targets uncovered through genomics-based approaches have created a demand for screening technologies that enable robust and parallel analysis of many targets, given that it is costly to sort out the targets one by one. Array-based expression analysis (bd1) and mutation mapping 2 of many genes have made a major impact on biology and on drug discovery and development. Whereas genes contain the information of life, their encoded proteins perform nearly all the functions in the cell. Because of this, and the fact that proteins are the targets against which most drugs are designed, it therefore becomes obvious that nothing is more important than deciphering the functions of proteins. Together with genomics, advanced chemical technologies, and high-throughput screening, protein microarray technology has the potential to aid in understanding biological systems or system biology, as well as in developing tomorrow's new medicines