Cell microarrays

In the postgenomic era, DNA and protein arrays are increasing the speed at which knowledge is gathered on gene expression in cells and tissues. At the same time, researchers realize that a miniaturized and parallelized analysis of whole cells may equally expedite the acquisition of data describing cellular properties and function. Researchers are starting to explore means of generating and using cell microarrays to investigate cells at higher throughput. In this initial phase of exploration, cell microarrays are being developed for various cellular analyses including the effects of gene expression, cellular reactions to the biomolecular environment, and profiling of cell surface molecules. This article will provide an overview of different types of eukaryotic cell microarrays described to date, how they are generated, and their fields of application.