ABSTRACT
Electronic addressing is the placement of charged molecules at specific test sites. Since DNA has a strong negative charge, it can be electronically moved to an area of positive charge. A test site or a row of test sites on the microchip is electronically activated with a positive charge. A solution of DNA probes is introduced onto the microchip. The negatively charged probes rapidly move to the positively charged sites, where they concentrate and are chemically bound to that site. The microchip is then washed and another solution of distinct DNA probes can be added. Site by site, row by row, an array of specifically bound DNA probes can be assembled or addressed on the microchip. In the electronic addressing illustration shown in Figure 8, a total of five sets of different capture probes have been electronically addressed to the microchip. With the ability to electronically address capture probes to specific sites, the system allows end-users to build custom arrays through the placement of specific capture probes on a microchip. In contrast to current technologies, these microchip arrays can be addressed in a matter of minutes at a minimal cost, providing research professionals with a powerful and versatile tool to process and analyze molecular information.
