[Sequencing by hybridization methods to generate large arrays of oligonucleotides]. Final technical report

The subject of this project is to address a pressing need for custom DNA microarrays (chips) which can be easily and at low cost formatted and revised for research. In this sense, the term custom means chips for which there is need for limited quantities (less than hundreds) of any particular chip design which contains a large number of different, users defined sequences. Of the three principal approaches to fabricate DNA microarrays, the two which have been commercialized (a and b below) are not particularly suited to research purposes because of the significant time and costs required, once a result is obtained, to utilize that result in the design of a new and better chip: (a) the photodeprotection scheme used by Affymetrix; and (b) the spotting of pre-synthesized oligos or c-DNA onto surfaces