Microarray technology--advances, applications, future prospects.

Over the last decade, microarray-based assays have evolved from a nascent technology to become a key molecular tool in basic, translational and clinical research. Their primary use remains gene-expression analyses, facilitating high-throughput transcriptome profiling. Microarrays have also found utility in genotyping and resequencing applications, comparative genomic hybridization and genome-wide (epigenetic) localization studies. The pharmaceutical industry has embraced biochips for in vitro pharmacology and toxicology studies. In the clinic, microarrays have found diagnostic, pharmacogenomic and toxicogenomic uses [1]. The ‘Microarray Technology – Advances, Applications, Future Prospects’ meeting held at the University of Camerino (Italy), September 17, 2007 provided an important forum for reviewing recent advances and future trends in this fast-moving field (Box 1). The meeting’s theme was ‘advances and future applications’, with presentations covering recent progress in array technology, biomarker discovery in thyroid diseases, pharmacotherapy for alcoholism and the utility of microarrays as therapeutic tools. Some of the meeting highlights are presented below.