A data storage medium is disclosed comprising a two-dimensional (2D) support structure onto which artificially synthesized DNA molecules encoding digital information are placed and then covered with a protective layer. The 2D support structure is formed from a material such as metal foil, glass, or plastic. The 2D support structure may be functionalized with positively charged molecules to improve DNA adhesion. The DNA is protected from degradation by encapsulation in a protective layer of a non-reactive material such as silica or a thin layer of metal. A process for storing DNA on 2D support structures is also disclosed. Correlation of specific DNA molecules with a physical storage location on a 2D support structure provides geometric addressability for selective access to specific digital information.

De novo synthesized large libraries of nucleic acids are provided herein with low error rates. Further, devices for the manufacturing of high-quality building blocks, such as oligonucleotides, are described herein. Longer nucleic acids can be synthesized in parallel using microfluidic assemblies. Further, methods herein allow for the fast construction of large libraries of long, high-quality genes. Devices for the manufacturing of large libraries of long and high-quality nucleic acids are further described herein.

Disclosed herein is a substrate which includes a functional group protected with a photolabile group covalently attached to the substrate and a film of solvent thereof covering the substrate, where the thickness of the film is less than about 100 μm. Also disclosed herein are methods of preparing such substrates. Further disclosed are methods of synthesizing polymers, methods of synthesizing arrays of polymers and methods of removing photolabile protecting groups. These methods all employ covering the substrate with a thin film of solvent where the thickness of the film is less than 100 μm.

The invention is directed to methods and apparatus for parallel enzymatic synthesis of polynucleotides in an array of reaction chambers using a tem-plate-free polymerase that has sequence-dependent coupling efficiencies. Whenever sequences causing low efficiency coupling occur at a 3′ end of a growing chain of a polynucleotide being synthesized, one or more additional coupling cy-cies without de-protection steps are inserted into synthesis plans to provide additional time for completing the coupling reaction at that position of the polynucleotide.

Methods and systems for identifying and/or quantifying polypeptide binding interactions of ligand-binding polypeptides are disclosed. Detailed methods include methods for identifying binding ligands of ligand-binding polypeptides and methods for assessing changes in binding behavior due to alterations of ligand-binding polypeptides. Detailed systems include array-based systems that permit detection of ligand binding interactions at single-analyte resolution.

Provided herein is technology relating to microarrays and particularly, but not exclusively, to microarray devices and systems, methods for producing microarrays, and methods of using microarrays.

Provided herein is a method for manufacturing a microarray system, for example, 3-dimensional lattice microarray system, for DNA sequence detection and analysis. A solid support, such as a plastic substrate, is contacted with a formulation containing a plurality of nucleic acid probes, a plurality of bifunctional polymer linkers, such as oligothymidine linkers, and a solvent mixture of water and a water-miscible liquid. The bifunctional polymer linkers are attached to the solid support and the water is evaporated. Then the nucleic acid probes are attached to the bifunctional polymer linker.

A peptide synthesis instrument can be used for small scale peptide synthesis. The instrument can include several unique features, including a compression style reaction vessel permitting quick setup of the reaction vessel, a double reaction vessel system permitting efficient mixing without loss of solvent or solvent-to-resin contact, gravity-fed heated reservoirs establishing a fixed volume for delivery to the reaction vessel, fume-free solvent addition permitting solvent addition to fixed bottles, and an improved amino acid manifold assembly which reduces the number of components and increases the ease of use of the instrument. Each of these features improve upon the current state of the art in solid phase automated peptide synthesizers.

A microfluidic device comprising a plurality of microreactors is provided. Each microreactor includes at least a first inlet and a second inlet for supplying a first fluid and a second fluid, respectively, to said microreactor and at least one waste channel for draining fluid from said microreactor. The device further comprises a shared first microfluidic supply system for supplying a first fluid to the first inlets of the plurality of microreactors, a shared second microfluidic supply system for supplying a second fluid to the second inlets of the plurality of microreactors. At least one of said inlets to each microreactor comprises at least one valve-less fluidic resistance element having a fluidic resistance that is substantially larger than the fluidic resistance of the corresponding shared microfluidic supply system. A chemical reaction sequencer apparatus including the microfluidic device and a method for supplying reagents to a plurality of microreactors are also provided.

The present invention generally relates to droplet libraries and to systems and methods for the formation of libraries of droplets. The present invention also relates to methods utilizing these droplet libraries in various biological, chemical, or diagnostic assays.