Protein microarrays have the potential to revolutionize
proteomics research for vaccine development, drug discovery, and diagnosis.
However, this potential is far from being realized mainly due to technical
complexity of protein array fabrication and uncertainties about the
functionality and integrity of proteins once immobilized onto a solid surface.
Researchers at the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State
University have developed a native protein array that combines the advantages of
current in situ self-assembled and spotted microarrays. By directly spotting
protein-carrying magnetic beads onto a glass substrate, functionally verified
proteins will remain in their native conformation, permitting high-density
arrays to be produced in high volume.
This approach has the potential to significantly impact
antigen identification and vaccine development, and also to accelerate
biomedical research, drug development, and diagnostics.
Potential Applications
- antigen identification
- drug and vaccine development
- biomedical research
- medical diagnostics
Benefits and Advantages
- proteins maintain their native conformation
- yield and quality of expression can be verified
throughout the process
- eliminates time-consuming protein expression and
purification steps
- high throughput
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For more information about the inventor(s) and their
research, please see
Dr.
Sykes's directory webpage
Dr.
Sykes's departmental webpage
Dr.
Johnston's directory webpage
