MWG-Biotech Inc. of High Point, N.C., offers an array design service for individual requirements. Affymetrix licenses MWG to manufacture, use, and sell oligos and cDNA chips. Incyte Genomics, NEN Life Science Products, Mergen, and Genomic Solutions offer different degrees of array processing capability for hire. Display Systems Biotech is also creating a programlike environment for its customers. This program also offers individualized clustering analysis of these custom-designed microarrays to compare multiple samples.
Some programs surround the user with all elements of microarray technology.
The differences between services is subtle, mostly at the level of sample turnout. Affymetrix runs the oldest program in the microarray world, with a large base of users worldwide. An integrated instrumentation system and three software systems support Affymetrix's GeneChip arrays. Agilent will produce custom oligonucleotide and cDNA arrays on glass slides, provide the TAP customers with an advanced, highly automated DNA microarray reader, and deliver expert support, consulting, and optimized protocols. Agilent has teamed up with Rosetta Inpharmatics Inc. of Kirkland, Wash., to offer an enterprisewide system for the analysis of gene expression data.