Drug-Induced Differential Gene Expression Analysis on Nanoliter Droplet Microarrays: Enabling Tool for Functional Precision Oncology

Performing high-throughput DGEA after drug treatment is challenging due to the very high cost and labor-intensive multi-step sample preparation protocols. In particular, performing drug-induced DGEA on cancer cells derived from patient biopsies is even more challenging due to the scarcity of available cells.

We introduce a novel, miniaturized method operating at the nanoliter scale for drug-induced DGEA. This innovative approach facilitates high-throughput and parallel analysis of the drug response of cells derived from patients, effectively circumventing issues related to limited samples and the laborious nature of traditional protocols. The method is based on the Droplet Microarray (DMA) platform, a microscope glass slide with a pattern of hydrophilic spots separated by a superhydrophobic background, which enables the formation of droplets suitable for testing a minute number of cells with compounds.