Patent ID: 7195913

Claim:
A method for detecting a target in a sample, the method comprising steps of a) providing an array comprising (i) a substrate; and (ii) a plurality of microparticles randomly immobilized on the substrate via an immobilization material, wherein each microparticle comprises a self encoding marker and a probe coupled to the microparticle, wherein each self-encoding marker and probe comprises a unique self-encoding marker/probe pair, and wherein the probe is configured and arranged to specifically bind the target; b) applying the sample suspected of containing the target coupled to a target marker to the array; c) maintaining the sample and array under conditions to allow binding of the target to the probe; and d) detecting the self-encoding marker coupled to the microparticle, and detecting the target marker associated with the microparticle wherein the immobilization material comprises a reactive polymer, the reactive polymer bound to the substrate, and the microparticles immobilized on the substrate via the reactive polymer; and wherein the reactive polymer comprises a photoreactive polymer having at least one photoreactive group and the photoreactive group is selected from the group consisting of aryl ketones, arylazides, acyl azides, sulfonyl azides, phosphoryl azides, diazoalkanes, diazoketones, diazoacetates, and ketenes.