The NanoChip® 400 system, including instrumentation, software, and the NanoChip 400 cartridge, offers clinical and research laboratories the power of a microarray, the flexibility of in-lab chip design, and the cost-efficiency of a multisample reusable cartridge. This open and robust platform allows laboratories to use one system for multiple molecular applications, including the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms and multigene targets, such as those tested for complex inheritable diseases and pharmacogenetics.
     The NanoChip 400 cartridge has 400 test sites that can be used for any combination of multiple genes and multiple samples. The cartridge can be utilized several times until all 400 test sites are used. This reusability makes the NanoChip 400 cartridge easier and more cost-efficient than research-grade, 1,000-gene chip arrays. Also, the cartridge’s multiplex capability makes it more suitable than polymerase chain reaction when multiallele or multigene assays are of interest.
     The heart of the NanoChip 400 cartridge is the NanoChip electronic microarray, which constructs the user-defined panel of genetic markers on one chip at the time of sample testing without a spotter. Electrical current is applied to the cartridge, enabling rapid movement and concentration of DNA and RNA. Complementary DNA reporter probes are then hybridized, and stringency is applied to remove unbound and nonspecifically bound strands.

Nanogen Inc
(877) 626-6436; www.nanogen.com