Technology
Dimole microarray systems have a number of properties that make them a more desirable testing system than the traditional enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In particular:
- They allow for the detection of several diseases in one test, in comparison to ELISA and PCR which allow for testing of only one disease at a time.
- They allow for testing of dormant viruses, eliminating the need for costly grow-up of sample.
- They are useful to identify secondary diseases that will result in the symptom expression of the primary infection.
- They can be used for testing of multiple types of disease-causing agents, including bacteria, viruses, viroids, fungi and nematodes.
- They are semi-quantitative.
- They enable testing of DNA from a large variety of substrates.
- Antibodies used for ELISA generally do not allow for detection down to strain-specific levels, however, microarrays, like PCR, allow for specific detection of DNA sequences.