Low-cost custom microarray synthesis

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this project our goal is to develop and commercialize a very low cost microarray chip fabrication technology to reduce the cost by as much as a factor of ten and enable the use of microarrays by groups who can not afford the current generation of microarrays. Our technology combines the standard acid labile DMT protection group containing nucleophosphoramidite monomers with localized acid generation by projection lithography to in situ synthesize oligonucleotides and oligopeptides on simple substrates such as glass slides in a massively parallel fashion. To increase the use of microarrays further, decrease the cost of using them and simplifying the information read out, we will develop low tech oligonucleotide microarrays which can be read by the human eye, a flat bed scanner or a barcode reader for yes or no type diagnostic purposes. We will also demonstrate the production of low cost custom microarrays on glass slides containing more than 500,000 different oligonucleotides on a single slide. Combining the ease of a yes or no type of readout with our oligonuclotide design software and databases, we will make several demonstration slides for tracking common viruses, as well as bacteria such as the flu or tuberculosis. Finally we will also demonstrate 5'-->3' synthesis with high stepwise yield to show that our technology can also be used to produce PCR primers or oligonucleotide libraries for gene synthesis or studies of small molecule binding, drug discovery, etc. Our preliminary results show that all of the above aims are achievable within the time frame and budget proposed. DNA chips or microarrays are one of the primary tools by which predisposition towards certain diseases such as cancer, response of human body's defense mechanism to viruses and drugs are studied. However, cost of using microarrays is still quite high and is a barrier to their increased usage in diagnosis and in poorer environments. In this project, our goal is to produce microarrays that are much cheaper, as well as easier to use so that they can be used world-wide in tracking viruses, or disease diagnostics.