A co-printed oligomer to enhance reliability of spotted microarrays

Successful printing and hybridization is essential for efficient and reliable data acquisition in a spotted microarray experiments. In this study we demonstrated that printing a 25 mer (printed 25 mer) with a standard 70 mer probe in each spot followed by the use of a fluorescently labeled 25 mer complement in the hybridization mixture ensures monitoring overall printing quality of the chip. This system can also be used as a control to evaluate adequate hybridization, washing, and alignment of spots to position the tracking grids during scanning. A print correction value incorporated in data analysis enhances consistency and reliability of results.