Ultrasensitive microarray technology

Microarray-based assay methods, first developed by my colleagues and myself in the mid-80s, represent the latest form of ligand assay methodology, of which radioimmunoassay and DNA assay are well known examples. It is seldom recognised that microarray technology conflicts with previously accepted principles of ligand assay design, whose basic objectives were the maximisation of assay sensitivity and precision. It was our demonstration that microarray methods could be more sensitive and faster than contemporary ligand assay methods , whilst enabling the simultaneous assay of tens, hundreds or thousands of analytes, that led to our collaboration with Boehringer Mannheim in 1991 on the technology's industrial development, the outcome of which was the development of microarray methods some three orders of magnitude greater in sensitivity than achieved by others who have since entered the field.