Next-generation DNA microarray manufacturing

New microarray printing technology is currently producing single-array microarrays with 95,000 and 185,000 features on standard 1x3' glass slides and microarrays containing eight arrays per slide Agilent Technologies has announced a next-generation DNA microarray manufacturing process that increases feature density more than fourfold in 2006 and potentially greater than tenfold in 2007. This move is part of Agilent's growing push to develop microarray applications that augment traditional gene expression analysis and enable researchers to answer previously intractable biological questions.

The new microarray printing technology, a higher-performance version of Agilent's proprietary ink-jet-based in situ fabrication method, is currently producing single-array microarrays with 95,000 and 185,000 features on standard 1x3' glass slides.

Agilent is also using the new manufacturing process to print microarrays containing eight arrays per slide.

Multiple-array slides containing user-defined content enable scientists to analyse focused gene sets, biological pathways or chromosomal regions at significantly lower cost per array, using a more automated workflow.

Agilent's current single-array microarrays have 44,000 features.

The company's next-generation microarrays, in single- as well as multiple-array slide formats, will be available in the second quarter of 2006.

'Density is important to the ChIP-on-chip work we do,' said Richard Young of the Whitehead Institute.

'In our laboratory the new Agilent microarrays are boosting productivity by letting us cover the same genomic regions faster and with less expense compared with the previous generation.

'The higher feature density complements the Agilent platform's very high sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio as well as its well-known flexibility of content.

'All of this makes this platform particularly well suited to emerging applications'.

'Agilent's ink-jet manufacturing process produces the highest sensitivity microarrays in the industry and offers unparalleled content flexibility,' said Mike Booth, general manager, Genomics business, Agilent Integrated Biology.

'These two advantages, combined with higher feature densities, will place us in a unique position to deliver both a broad range of new applications as well as lower microarray costs to life science researchers'.

Agilent's higher-density microarrays will be available as standard catalogue products as well as user-designed custom microarrays for a range of genomic applications including gene expression studies, comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH), ChIP-on-chip and splice variant analysis.

The high-density capability will benefit these as well as future applications by providing a more practical path to whole genome experiments.

In addition, by pairing higher density with Agilent's unique ability to ink-jet-print custom microarray content in multiple-array slide formats, the company will enable more automated workflows and significantly reduce the cost of microarray experiments.

This will make high-quality commercial microarrays accessible to customers who previously could not afford them.

The flexibility of Agilent's microarray printing technology is delivered to customers through the company's eArray website.

'Scientists are increasingly exploring multiple applications and want to validate gene expression data with other types of data,' continued Booth.

'Agilent has aggressively augmented our informatics portfolio in recent months to facilitate this multi-application trend, and our new, higher-density microarray capability further supports this approach'.

In addition to increased feature density, the enhanced ink-jet printing provides improved spot placement accuracy and further optimised synthesis uniformity.

This enables features to be synthesised closer together than on the previous generations of microarrays with minimal impact on feature size.

The 95,000 and 185,000 feature microarrays are therefore compatible with existing experimental protocols without the need for Agilent customers to make further capital investment in a new scanner.

Agilent is a provider of microarray-based, genomics research systems.

This includes reagents for Sample Preparation and microarray processing, hardware for sample QC and high-throughput microarray scanning, 60-mer oligo microarrays on industry-standard 1x3' glass slides for gene expression, comparative genomic hybridisation and chromatin immunoprecipitation applications, custom microarray design services, and Genespring and Rosetta software products for data analysis.

source: laboratory talk