Patent ID: 7122378

Claim:
A method for determining the two-dimensional coordinates of sequential cross-sectional slices of a fiber bundle which may be used to form a chip or a micro-array comprising: (a) producing a series of sequential cross-sectional slices of a bundle of adhered linearly-aligned fibers, wherein each sequential slice comprises multiple fiber units that are bound or immobilized to each other, and each bound or immobilized fiber unit is produced by the cross-sectional slicing of the individual fibers in the bundle, wherein said fiber bundle comprises fibers containing one or more immobilized biological substance(s) and at least two coordinate reference points, (b) determining the two-dimensional coordinates of each fiber unit within a fiber alignment slice S(h) using the coordinates of the fiber units formed by said two or more coordinate reference points; (c) determining the two-dimensional coordinates of each fiber unit corresponding to those in fiber alignment slice S(h) which are in an adjacent or sequential fiber alignment slice S(i) of said fiber bundle, based on the coordinate data obtained for fiber alignment slice S(h) in step (b) and based on the positions of the coordinate reference points in the adjacent or sequential fiber alignment slice; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) to determine the two-dimensional coordinates of fiber units in one or more successive or adjacent fiber alignment slices of said fiber bundle.