Microarrays Aim for Center Stage

VCs and entrepreneurs first became interested in microarray technologies for genomic applications more than a decade ago, as a method of sorting overwhelming amounts of information systematically, quickly and affordably. Silicon chips gleaned from the computer world formed the foundation of the early microarrays. Each chip provided dozens and later tens of thousands of data points, depending on the number of analytes they could hold. Their capabilities grew as feature size shrank in accordance with Moore's Law, which predicts that the number of microcomponents that can fit on a semiconductor chip for the same cost will double every 18 months. At the same time, developers and users began to apply significant bioinformatics muscle to power the algorithms used to interpret the resulting data.

Genomic tool companies provided systems, including chips, detection technologies and reagents. Competition was fierce and based on price, ease of...