PARALLEL ARRAY PROCESSOR

Microarrays are designed to allow many experiments to be carried out simultaneously on a single sample, and are highly efficient in this regard. However, commercially available microarray technologies are not designed for the analysis of large numbers of samples, and are costly and cumbersome to apply in this way. There is an increasing need for an array technology that will permit many samples to be processed efficiently, accurately, cost-effectively, and reproducibly. We have developed an array technology with these requirements in mind. This project aims to develop further a system for parallel processing of arrays. The system is based on a matrix of arrays in a microtiter format, and aims to provide researchers with a capability for large-scale analysis of complex genetic systems that is currently attainable only in costly large-scale production environments. It will allow researchers to carry out array-based SNP genotyping and RNA profiling experiments on thousands of samples per day.