Electrochemically Synthesized DNA Arrays on Chip

Promovendus/a: Karen Levrie

Promotor(en): Prof. dr. ir. Christiaan Van Hoof, Prof. dr. ir. Liesbet Lagae

DNA microarrays are an important tool in genomic research. They enable the analysis of thousands of genes at the same time. A gene is a piece of DNA that determines the hereditary characteristics of an organism by encoding the 'manual' in a specific sequence of four building blocks - A, C, G and T. Understanding how these genes work makes it possible to offer personalized therapies, to solve crimes and to develop new technologies - also outside the medical world.

A DNA microarray consists of a substrate with hundreds of thousands of individual spots, also called features, each containing a large amount of DNA fragments with a specific sequence, the probes. Various methods have already been developed for the fabrication of these microarrays. These either rely on the immobilization of pre-synthesized probes, or the probes are built up directly on the substrate.

New DNA microarray applications, such as synthetic biology and next-generation data storage, require a strong increase in the microarray feature density, or in other words, in the amount of DNA spots per surface. For this reason, we have developed a strategy in this thesis to fabricate high density DNA microarrays by leveraging the lithographic resolution of CMOS technology.