Biochips, also known as microarrays, are widely used for genomic and proteomic analyses. They can be divided into DNA microarrays, protein microarrays, and microfluidic chips. Due to the advance of nanotechnology, the size of biochips has been continuously reduced, leading to the reduced manufacturing cost and the improved high-throughput capability. Because of these benefits, biochip technology has become a powerful research tool in the fields of biomedical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and biodefense.
A DNA microarray is a collection of microscopic DNA spots that are covalently or non-covalently attached to a solid surface. Due to their high throughput, DNA microarrays are widely used in a variety of applications in genomics, such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, gene expression studies, functional prediction, and pathway identification. A protein microarray is a chip harboring an array of proteins, peptides, antibodies, or aptamers embedded on its surface for high-throughput study of protein interactions, function, or detection of the presence of proteins. The main application of protein microarrays is to determine the location, timing, causative factors and level of protein expression. Functional protein microarrays are used to detect the interaction of proteins with other ligands such as proteins, peptides, lipids, or other molecules. In drug discovery and development, protein microarrays play an important role through the comprehensive profiling of drugs for effects. A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device that integrates multiple laboratory functions into a single chip. LOCs are capable of performing various types of chemical and cellular analysis, separations, and reactions, and can be widely applied in genetic analysis, disease diagnosis, culturing and manipulating cells, drug discovery, and materials chemistry.
Many novel systems for reading and deciphering the output of biochip are developed, enabling the simultaneous observation of thousands of biochemical changes that are occurring in the chips. Amerigo Scientific provides advanced systems in a variety of specifications for capturing and reading signals from microarrays or biochips, thereby giving high-throughput and accurate analysis.
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