Dimensionality is the issue: use of photoaptamers in protein microarrays

The development of high-density arrays for proteomics has become a goal of SomaLogic, many other companies, and a wide variety of academic entities. Unfortunately, the word proteomics has come to mean virtually everything. We define proteomics as being derived from arrays of analyte-specific reagents (ASRs) used to measure (something about) proteins. As the density of the ASRs on a chip increases toward the number of proteins in an organism, the concept of proteomics moves toward comprehensive proteomics. At issue then, is what constitutes an ASR, and what differences between them lead toward more or less biological information from a high-density panel of ASRs.