Relating to substrates for the attachment of molecules

1. A substrate comprising a thermally cured coating of a masking material, and a plurality of discrete reaction zones onto which one or more binding agents are intended to be attached, wherein said zones are uncoated areas on the substrate, wherein the masking material and has a contact angle of 60-120° and comprises a pigment, an acrylic resin, and a structuring agent, wherein the structuring agent is PTFE wax.

2. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the coating has been thermally cured at a temperature of at least 140° C.

3. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is approximately 100 mm×99 mm in size, and wherein the substrate comprises square subsections that are approximately 9 mm×9 mm in size, each square subsection comprising a grid of discrete reaction zones, and wherein each square subsection comprises a grid of from 5×5, 10×10, 20×20, or 30×30 discrete reaction zones.

4. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the density of the discrete reaction zones is in the range of from 0.08 to 15 zones/mm 2 .

5. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein each discrete reaction zone has a diameter ranging from 0.1 mm to 1 mm in diameter.

6. A substrate according to claim 1 comprising one or more binding agents immobilised on the discrete reaction zones.

7. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises silicon, metal oxides, glass or plastic.

8. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the contact angle is 90°-120°.

9. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the coating applied to the substrate is 2 to 50 μm (micron) thick.

10. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the coating of masking material is a colour ranging from off-white to black.

11. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the discrete reaction zones are chemically activated to allow immobilization of binding agent.

12. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the masking material comprises an epoxy resin.

13. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein:

the pigment is present in an amount of 1 to 8% w/w of the masking composition;

the epoxy resin is present in an amount of 15 to 50% w/w of the masking composition,

the acrylic resin is present in an amount of 2 to 10% w/w of the masking composition, and

the structuring agent is present in an amount of 15 to 50% w/w of the masking composition.

14. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein

the pigment is present in an amount of about 5% w/w of the masking composition;

the epoxy resin is present in an amount of about 30% w/w of the masking composition,

the acrylic resin is present in an amount of about 10% w/w of the masking composition, and

the structuring agent is present in an amount of about 20% w/w of the masking composition.

15. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the binding agents are antibodies.

16. A substrate according to claim 1 , wherein the masking material does not contain silicon.

17. A substrate according to claim 4 , wherein the density of the discrete reaction zones is in the range of from 0.2 to 13 zones/mm 3 .

18. A substrate according to claim 7 , wherein the substrate is glass.

19. A substrate according to claim 13 , wherein the pigment is a black pigment.

20. A method of forming a substrate according to claim 1 , the method comprising:

(a) forming a plurality of discrete reaction zones on the surface of the substrate;

(b) applying the masking material to the surface of the substrate other than the plurality of discrete reaction zones; and

(c) thermally curing the masking material to form a coating of the masking material on the surface of the substrate.

21. A method according to claim 20 , wherein the masking material is thermally cured at a temperature of at least 140° C.

22. A method according to claim 20 , wherein the masking material is applied by screen printing.