Immobilization strategies for peptide microarrrays

Abstract

Peptide microarrays have been developed over the last decade into a technology that can profile biomolecules. It has proven to be a versatile tool for epitope-mapping, substrate profiling and probing antigen-antibody, protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, which all can lead or have led to the discovery of new drugs and drug targets. Microarrays are convenient to use because only miniscule quantities are needed for screening a high number of substances. Peptides used in peptide microarrays are synthesized in such a way that they can bind via either a covalent or non-covalent bond to the microarray surface. These peptides often need a special functionality, but there are also strategies that make use of the occurring moieties in the peptide to achieve immobilization. This thesis gives a short summary of the development of peptide microarrays and discusses the strategies that have been developed for the immobilization of peptides on glass microscopic slides.