Patent ID: 6251685
Filing Date: 2001-06-26
Classification: B01J,G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for reading data from microlocations of a microelectronic array comprising steps of:providing said microelectronic array having a plurality of individually activatable microlocations, each microlocation having molecular biological material thereon;selecting a biological detection technique by which optical energy is generated in response to applying activation energy to a microlocation at which molecular biological material resides, with a specific characteristic of the generated optical energy being related to a specific characteristic of said molecular biological material;simultaneously activating a plurality of microlocations such that each activated microlocation is surrounded by a plurality of inactive microlocations, said plurality of microlocations being activated to generate optical energy at each activated microlocation having molecular biological material, said optical energy being indicative of said specific attribute of molecular biological material at each microlocation, said surrounding inactive microlocations serving to reduce optical interference between said plurality of activated microlocations;simultaneously detecting said optical energy generated at each said activated microlocation; andquantifying said specific attribute for said molecular biological material residing at each of said activated microlocations based upon said detected optical energy at each said activated microlocation.