We have developed a novel microarraying surface that dramatically improves the quality of spotted array data. Most homemade arrays suffer from variable printing quality. Spots often possess “donut” shapes where hybridized signal is higher in the periphery than in the center. This affects the quality of the data, as all pixel values must be averaged, leading to imprecision in the measurement. We created a novel, photolithographically patterned polymer surface to control the drying properties of DNA printed on the surface. Arrays can be printed using any standard arrayer. Once the polymer is removed, a series of highly uniform sub-spots are left on the slide. Read more.

The Lin lab also runs the Cornell Microarray Core Facility, providing spotted array, Affymetrix, Combimatrix, and Illumina based assays to faculty.