Pharmacogenomics

   The major application of biochip and microarray technology is in the area of pharmocogenomics. This application is focused in the connection between pharmacology and genomics. The goal of pharmacogenomics is to find links between therapeutic responses to drugs and the genetic profiles of patients. It strives to answer the questions of: "Why some drugs work better in some patients better than in others and why some drugs may even be highly toxic to certain patients. Pharmacology is the type of science which seeks to understand the preparation, use, and effects of drugs. Genomics on the other hand, seeks to provide the complete sequence of genomes, and a complete understanding of gene functions and genes themselves. These two areas in science go hand in hand to a certain extent.

     "The complete sequence of all the genes in a genome provides, by definition, a sequence of all of the gene products encoded by the genome".  A complete genomic sequence provides all of the potential drug targets for a given organism. This advanced list of possible drug targets, provides huge benefits to pharmacogenomics in the act of beginning the drug discovery process. 

    The role that biochip and microarray technology play in genomics shows how important the biochip is to pharmacogenomics. Microarrays tolerate gene sequencing analysis and fast gene expression monitoring in regards to the genome. This information affects many aspects of the drug discovery process. Many drugs have certain affects on gene expression that link with the mode of action of a given drug. Therefore, microarray-based analysis of gene expression in the genome should help researchers understand the "mechanistic basis of action of many drugs".

    This connection between the genome and drug development gives biochip and microarray technology a role to play in other applications linked with pharmacogenomics. These include lead compound screening and optimization, toxicity, pharmacodynamics, and drug efficiency.

Gene Expression

    Gene expression is the process whereby a sequence of DNA, the blueprint, directs the production of a protein, the machine that the blueprint describes. All the work in the body is done by proteins. Proteins are the enzymes that digest your food, the cytoskeleton that gives your cells and you shape, the receptors that make your brain function and the antibodies that protect you from disease. One application of the biochip and microarray technology is the Brain Tumour Biochip. The BT chip for short, is DNA and oligo DNA microarrays based on differential gene expression in brain tumors. This flow chart below will outline the various steps in producing a BT chip.