Protein Array Technology: The Tool to Bridge Genomics and Proteomics

The generation of protein chips requires much more efforts than DNA microchips.While DNA is DNA and a variety of different DNA molecules behave stable in a hybridisation experiment, proteins are much more difficult to produce and to handle. Outside of a narrow range of en-vironmental conditions, proteins will denature, lose their three-dimensional structure and a lot of their specificity and activity. The chapter describes the pitfalls and challenges in Protein Mi-croarray technology to produce native and functional proteins and store them in a native and special environment for every single spot on an array, making applications like antibody pro-filing and serum screening possible not only on denatured arrays but also on native protei