Patent ID: 6864048

Claim:
A polymer library comprising polymers selected from the group consisting of oligonucleotides and peptides, wherein said library comprises at least three families of polymers pools, which polymers each comprise at least three monomers each obtained from a basis set of monomers, where: the polymers in a first family are represented by X 3 X 2P X 1P , wherein X 3 represents a first monomer position which is occupied by a different monomer in each of then pools of polymers, X 2P represents a second monomer position which is occupied by a mixture of monomers, and X 1P represents a third monomer position which is occupied by a mixture of monomers; the polymers in a second family are represented by X 3P X 2 X 1P where X 3P represents a first monomer position which is occupied by a mixture of monomers, X 2 represents a second monomer position which is occupied by a different monomer in each of the pools of polymers, and X 1P represents a third monomer position which is occupied by a mixture of monomers; the polymers in a third family are represented by X 3P X 2P X 1P , wherein X 3P represents a first monomer position which is occupied by a mixture of monomers, X 2P represents a second monomer position which is occupied by a mixture of monomers, and X 1 represents a third monomer position which is occupied by a different monomer in each of the pools of polymers; wherein each pool is ordered such that a monomer sequence which binds to a receptor can be identified from the order of pools in the library; wherein said pools of polymers are bound to substrates on a known region of a surface; and wherein each pool is physically isolated from all the other pools in the same family in separate bins.