Since their inception, DNA microarrays have been valuable in fields ranging from drug discovery to agricultural engineering. But the high-density chips suited for large-scale screening of differential gene expression patterns lack the sensitivity necessary for in-depth, secondary analysis of the resultant target genes. Netherlands-based QIAGEN saw this gap in the DNA microarray market and decided to close it with the SensiChip™ DNA Microarray System, an amplification-free technology that provides the true expression profile of a cell. The company recently unveiled SensiChip at Analytica 2002 in Munich, Germany. Developed in collaboration with Zeptosens, SensiChip is based on planar waveguide (PWG) technology that enables highly sensitive microarray analysis with as little as 1 µg total RNA.
SensiChip microarrays are coated with a thin film of tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5), which has a higher refractive index than the glass slide. A laser beam, directed into the thin PWG layer by a coupling grating, propagates ...
