Guided deposition in spatial arrays

Abstract

An apparatus and method is provided for preparing and using a very large and diverse array of compounds on a substrate having rapidly accessible locations. The substrate contains cells in which the compounds of the array are located. Surrounding the cells is a non-wetable surface that prevents the solution in one cell from moving to adjacent cells. The compounds are delivered to the individual cells of the array by a micropipette attached to an X-Y translation stage.

1 - 20 . (canceled)  
     
     
         21 . An optical disc bearing an array of nucleic acids and encoded information recorded on the disc regarding the array or one or more cells thereof, or deposition information on preparing the nucleic acids.  
     
     
         22 . The optical disc of  claim 21 , wherein the encoded information is digitally encoded information.  
     
     
         23 . The optical disc of  claim 21 , wherein the encoded information comprises information on the identity of a nucleic acid within at least one of the cells.  
     
     
         24 . The optical disc of  claim 21 , wherein the encoded information comprises the monomer sequence listing of the nucleic acid.  
     
     
         25 . The optical disc of  claim 24 , wherein the encoded information comprises a complete listing of the sequences for each nucleic acid and the cell at which each nucleic acid is located.  
     
     
         26 . The optical disc of  claim 21 , wherein the encoded information comprises deposition information that includes instructions for depositing the nucleic acids in the cells.  
     
     
         27 . The optical disc  claim 21 , wherein 
 (a) the disc comprises one or more cell tracks and one or more information tracks at defined regions of the substrate; and    (b) wherein the cells are located within the cell tracks and at least some of the encoded information is located within the information tracks.    
     
     
         28 . The optical disc of  claim 27 , wherein the encoded information comprises system information, the system information comprising information regarding the one or more cell tracks, the one or more information tracks and/or the location of the cells.  
     
     
         29 . The optical disc of  claim 27 , wherein 
 (a) each information track comprises a plurality of sectors; and    (b) the encoded information comprises header information, with the header information being located at each of the plurality of sectors and comprising information on the location of the sectors with respect to one another.    
     
     
         30 . The optical disc of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more information tracks and the one or more cell tracks are arranged as concentric circles with respect to one another.  
     
     
         31 . The optical disc of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more information tracks and the one or more cell tracks are arranged as continuous spirals with respect to one another.  
     
     
         32 . The optical disc of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more information tracks are a plurality of information tracks and the one or more cell tracks are a plurality of cell tracks.  
     
     
         33 . The optical disc of  claim 32 , wherein the plurality of information tracks are located at an inner central region of the array and the plurality of cell tracks are located at a region at the outer periphery of the array such that there is no overlap of information and cell tracks.  
     
     
         34 . The optical disc of  claim 32 , wherein the plurality of cell tracks are located at an inner central region of the array and the plurality of information tracks are located at a region at the outer periphery of the array such that there is no overlap of the information and cell tracks.  
     
     
         35 . The optical disc of  claim 32 , wherein the plurality of information tracks and the plurality of cell tracks are alternately positioned across the substrate.  
     
     
         36 . The optical disc of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of nucleic acids are attached to the surface of the substrate via a linker.  
     
     
         37 . The array of  claim 21 , wherein each cell is less than 1 cm 2 .  
     
     
         38 . The array of  claim 21 , wherein each cell is less than 1 mm 2 .