Diagnostic microarray: an array of possibilities for parasitology

ABSTRACT

Parasites affect the majority of the world,s population. Despite this fact, trials to develop vaccines remain far-off. Scientists have studied the gene expression as a hallmark of gene activities reflecting the current cell conditions. Analyzing differentially expressed genes is a major initiative and most labs recoil at the amount of time and high costs required for obtaining results. By employing microarrays, researchers can decrease their reliance upon time-consuming techniques; consequently, microarray is beginning to dominate other molecular diagnostic technologies. Moreover, the ability of microarrays to monitor simultaneous gene expression of thousands of genes and to produce broad arrays of data has the potential to shift the resources of the scientists from data gathering to analyzing data that are already available. As microarray technology improves and its cost decreases, the role of the ability to "see" the molecular biology pathways involved in parasite host relationships will place this technology at the forefront of parasite research