Microarray fabrication techniques and apparatus
First Claim
1. A capillary bundle comprising a plurality of individual capillaries having proximal and distal ends, each of said capillaries having a wall defining a channel extending from the proximal end to the distal end of the capillary, wherein said proximal ends of the individual capillaries are secured to one another in a solid mass of a static array containing capillaries at a density of at least about 83 capillaries per square centimeter, and the proximal ends of the individual capillaries terminate within about 100 microns of one another.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a microarray printing system and methods of printing probe microarrays. The system has a print head formed of one or more bundles of individual capillaries, such as light-guiding capillaries. The bundles may especially be random bundles of capillaries that provide a large number of probes on the surface of a substrate. Methods of registering or correlating the distal and proximal ends of the capillaries are also provided. Further, the invention provides methods and equipment for identifying defective microarrays that are missing one or more probes from the surface of the microarray.
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24 Claims
- 1. A capillary bundle comprising a plurality of individual capillaries having proximal and distal ends, each of said capillaries having a wall defining a channel extending from the proximal end to the distal end of the capillary, wherein said proximal ends of the individual capillaries are secured to one another in a solid mass of a static array containing capillaries at a density of at least about 83 capillaries per square centimeter, and the proximal ends of the individual capillaries terminate within about 100 microns of one another.
- 9. A capillary bundle comprising a plurality of light-guiding capillaries, each of said plurality of light-guiding capillaries having a wall defining a channel and said wall comprising a region of high refractive index surrounded by a region of lower refractive index along the length of the capillary, wherein each of said plurality of light-guiding capillaries is capable of transporting light and a liquid from a distal end to a proximal end of the capillary simultaneously and the proximal ends of said plurality of light-guiding capillaries are bundled together and contain capillaries at a density of at least about 83 capillaries per square centimeter.
Specification