Patent ID: 7416901

Claim:
A method for the manufacture of a microarray, whereby hydrophilic surface areas of a chip are placed in contact with different aqueous solutions containing at least one coating substance, comprising the steps of (a) for each of the individual surface areas an absorbent substrate is prepared on a mounting plate, and is filled with the solution to be brought into contact with the individual surface area, and (b) for the printing of the surface area with the at least one coating substance contained in the solution, the substrate is then brought into contact with the individual surface area, wherein the surface of the chip is structured so that the hydrophilic surface areas are separated from one another by at least one hydrophobic surface area, wherein in the surface of the mounting plate, in locations that correspond to the locations in which the hydrophilic surface areas of the chip are located, openings are introduced, the substrates are located in these openings so that they each project with a portion of their area out of the opening above the surface of the mounting plate, and for the printing of the hydrophilic surface areas of the chip, the mounting plate and the chip are positioned relative to each other so that the projecting areas of the substrates each come into contact with a corresponding hydrophilic surface area of the chip so that the coating substance contained in the solution adheres to the hydrophilic surface to form a receptor, which is bond-specific for a certain ligand and forms a receptor-ligand complex, the bonding of which is measured by means of photodetectors located directly underneath the coating substance, wherein on a side of the mounting plate opposite the side facing the chip, reservoirs are formed in the mounting plate, each of which is located adjacent to and connected with a corresponding opening in the mounting plate, wherein the reservoirs are filled with solutions that contain at least one coating substance, wherein the reservoirs have a larger cross section than the openings, wherein the mounting plate is a single, one-piece construction and the reservoirs and openings are integrally formed in the mounting plate; wherein the arrangement of the reservoirs relative to their corresponding opening and the construction of the reservoirs enable the quantities of the solution transferred during printing from the substrates to the chip to flow by gravity out of the reservoirs and into the substrates so that a plurality of chips can be printed by the same mounting plate; and wherein the openings in the mounting plate are filled with a polymerizable mixture for the introduction of the substrates, and the mixture is then polymerized and optionally cross-linked.