Array experiments microarray technology

DNA and protein microarray technology has revolutionized the way scientists study complex biological processes. These arrays consist of thousands of nucleic acids or proteins immobilized on a solid support. The array format allows one to rapidly evaluate interactions with a large number of molecules simultaneously. For example, one can examine the expression profiles of thousands of genes in a single experiment. 

In this study, we have demonstrated a new electrochemical method for highly sensitive, accurate, and rapid multiplex detection of colon cancer cells response to differentiation therapy. The development of an electronic biochip array system, adjusted to biological experiments can help tailor cancer treatment to individual patients. Human colon cancer cells, HT-29, were treated with the differentiation therapy drag agents BA, AN-7, and AN-9, and the cells response was simultaneously measured on hue and compared. This microarray technology provides the ability to test on line the affect of multi-drag agents, and to tailor effective therapy to the individual. 

The aim of a typical microarray-based transcriptional profiling experiment is to identify target genes for down-stream validation experiments, for example to identify genes that are expressed differentially after treatment with a certain componnd. Likewise, the array technology can be used to verify a hypothesis, for example to verify that a compound does induce a certain expected effect. Furthermore, microarrays are used widely in various classification studies in which an initial set of samples with known labels (e.g., type of leukaemia) are profiled, followed by a profiling of a different set of samples with nn-known labels (e.g., patient biopsies) and assigning these into the previously identified classes based on their expression profile. 

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