Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Application of Biochip Microfluidic Technology to Detect Serum Allergen-specific Immunoglobulin E (sIgE)
Published on: April 21, 2019
Antigen-chip technology for accessing global information about the state of the body
F J Quintana1, Y Merbl, E Sahar
1Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Traditionally, immunologic diagnosis has been based on an attempt to correlate each disease with a specific immune reactivity, such as an antibody or a T-cell response to a single antigen specific for the disease entity. The state of the body, however, appears to be encoded by the immune system in collectives of reactivities and not by single reactivities. Here we describe our use of microarray technology and informatics to develop an antigen chip capable of detecting global patterns of antibodies binding to hundreds of antigens simultaneously. The patterns fashion diagnostic signatures.
Traditionally, immunologic diagnosis has been based on an attempt to correlate each disease with a specific immune reactivity, such as an antibody or a T-cell response to a single antigen specific for the disease entity. The state of the body, however, appears to be encoded by the immune system in collectives of reactivities and not by single reactivities. Here we describe our use of microarray technology and informatics to develop an antigen chip capable of detecting global patterns of antibodies binding to hundreds of antigens simultaneously. The patterns fashion diagnostic signatures.
Related Concept Videos
Antigens Involved in Adaptive Immunity
Complete Antigens
Complete antigens possess both immunogenicity and reactivity.
Chromatin Immunoprecipitation- ChIP
Types of ChIP
ChIP can be divided into two types - X-ChIP and N-ChIP. X-ChIP involves in vivo cross-linking of histones and regulatory proteins to DNA, fragmenting the DNA by sonication, and isolating the protein-DNA...
DNA Microarrays
Antigen Presenting Cells
T cells require the help of antigen-presenting cells (APCs), which process foreign antigens into smaller fragments that can be recognized by T cells. These APCs are highly specialized cells that efficiently internalize antigens...
Diversity of Antigen Receptors
Before encountering any antigen, lymphocytes express these receptors. On B cells, the antigen receptor is a membrane-bound antibody molecule called BCR; on T cells, it is a T cell receptor or TCR. B and T cell receptors are composed of two...

