Patent ID: 7255995

Claim:
A method for comparing and identifying nucleic acid sequences in two or more collections of labeled nucleic acids, the method comprising: providing a plurality of nucleic acid probes bound to a solid surface, at least some of said plurality comprising a nucleic acid complementary to a nucleic acid sequence in said collections to be compared; contacting the nucleic acid probes with a first collection of labeled nucleic acids having a first type of label, and at least a second collection of labeled nucleic acids having a second type of label; wherein said first and second types of labels are light scattering particles and are distinguishable from each other and wherein said labeled nucleic acids in said first and second collections bind to said probes; and detecting the binding for each of the first and at least second labeled nucleic acids to the nucleic acid probes; thereby comparing and identifying said nucleic acid sequences in said two or more collections.