The Concept: Billions of molecules can be placed or captured on a 2 mm diameter microchip in predetermined places. While the molecules are on the chip, scientists can map and compare protein compositions (Retentate Mapping™) and evaluate numerous types of protein-protein interactions. Proteins on the ProteinChip™ arrays are read at the rate of 10 times per second. Subsequently, when subjected to short bursts of laser light, the retained molecules are uncoupled from the chip surface and "transported" to a sensitive molecular weight detector. This technology, originally conceived by T. T. Yip and T. William Hutchens in the 1980's is referred to as SELDI™ (surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization).
The Logistics: The first step in the SELDI process is to capture, or "dock", one or more proteins of interest on a ProteinChip array directly from the source material. This can be done via a variety of chemical and biochemical arrays, including antibodies, receptors,...
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