Biochips can identify which genes in a cell are active at any given time and how they respond to changes. This capability allows physicians to determine what genes might be the cause of a particular disease and provides pharmacologists with a basis for designing drugs for treatment. Biological information is encoded in DNA, the building block in human genes that makes each of us unique. By combining biochips with robots and computers, biologists can detect one genetic variation among three billion DNA bases in minutes. Thousands of biochemical tests that now take days can be performed in less than an hour.
Biochips are essentially biochemistry laboratories in miniature.
By attaching antibodies instead of nucleic acids to the biochips, hundreds of immunoassays on a single sample might be performed. The initial market for biochips will be pharmaceutical companies, research facilities, biotech firms, and academic research institutions worldwide. Ultimately, they will be used in hospitals and clinical laboratories. The clinical diagnostics market alone will explode by billions of dollars as these biochips are used to test for a wide variety of life-threatening conditions, such as genetic defects and viral and microbial diseases. It is estimated that miniaturization and mass production will significantly reduce drug screening costs.