Applied Bio Enters Microarray Market

Courtesy of Applied Biosystems

Foster City, Calif.-based Applied Biosystems http://www.appliedbiosystems.com has officially entered the microarray marketplace. Combining chemiluminescent detection with improved probe design, the new Expression Array system provides an average sensitivity of 0.5 copies per cell, compared to the one to three copies per cell afforded by most fluorescent platforms.

Chemiluminescence addresses a major drawback of fluorescence-based detection systems: The light used to excite the fluorescent probes can overlap with their emission spectra. A chemiluminescent reaction, however, produces light when the label binds a substrate rather than relying on light to excite the bound label, thereby eliminating this problem.

Another advantage, the company says, is that unlike some competitors that synthesize oligonucleotide probes directly on-chip, Applied Biosystems synthesizes its oligos offline prior to spotting. This approach adds an extra level of quality control, the company says, as it allows users to easily determine if the oligos have been synthesized...