Reusable substrate for DNA microarray production

1. A method for the electrochemical production of a biopolymer array Comprising a porous membrane and bound biopolymers composed of monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks, comprising the following steps:

providing an electrode array comprising selectively addressable electrodes;

providing a porous membrane comprising binding sites for biopolymer building blocks, the binding sites bearing protective groups that are electrochemically unstable;

providing liquid reagents comprising monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks, said biopolymer building blocks optionally comprise binding sites for bipolymer building blocks bearing protective groups that are electrochemically unstable,

bringing said porous membrane into physical contact with said electrode array,

performing at least one production cycle comprising:

applying an electrical potential to at least one selected electrode of said electrode array, whereby an electrochemical reaction deprotects the protective groups of those binding sites that are arranged above said selected electrodes and that comprise electrochemically unstable protective groups being electrochemically unstable at said applied electrical potential, and

bringing said porous membrane and said electrode array into physical contact with said liquid reagents, whereby said monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks of said liquid reagents bind to the electrochemically deprotected binding sites, thereby producing the biopolymer array, and

removing the produced biopolymer array comprising said porous membrane and bound biopolymers composed of monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks from said electrode array.

2. The method according to claim 1 , whereby in the production cycle performance step said monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks of said liquid reagents bind to the electrochemically deprotected binding sites of said porous membrane in all production cycles.

3. The method according to claim 1 , whereby in the production cycle performance step said monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks of said liquid reagents bind to the electrochemically deprotected binding sites of said porous membrane and/or to the electrochemically deprotected binding sites of said monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric biopolymer building blocks bound to the porous membrane.

4. The method according to claim 1 , whereas said porous membrane and said electrode array are in physical contact with a liquid solution, when the electrical potential is applied in the at least one production cycle of the production cycle performance step.

5. The method according to claim 1 , whereas in two successive production cycles of the production cycle performance step a different group of electrodes is selected and/or a different electrical potential is applied and/or different liquid reagents are provided.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said protective groups are deprotected by electrochemical reagents generated at the electrode surface by the applied electrical potential.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said protective groups are cleaved by applying said electrical potential.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising additional steps of detecting a detectable label coupled to the protective groups of the biopolymer building blocks that are bound to the porous membrane.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said porous, membrane comprises a porous inorganic material.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein said porous inorganic material is selected from the group consisting of a porous glass material, a porous silicon material and a porous polymer or copolymer material.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said porous membrane comprises a porous organic material.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein said porous organic material is selected from the group consisting of a porous plastic material, Cellulose and nitrocellulose.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said biopolymer building blocks are nucleic acid building blocks.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the protective groups of said nucleic acid building blocks are acid labile protective groups or base labile protective groups.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said acid labile protective groups are selected from the group consisting of pixyl groups and trityl groups.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein said acid labile protective groups are selected from the group consisting of 4,4′-dimethoxy triphenylmethyl and 4-monomethoxy triphenylmethyl.

17. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said base labile protective groups are selected from the group consisting of levulinyl groups and silyl groups.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein said base labile protective groups are selected from the group consisting of tert-butyldimethyl silyl and tert-butyldiphenyl silyl.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said biopolymer building blocks are peptide building blocks.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the protective groups of said peptide building blocks are base labile protective groups or acid labile protective groups.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein said base labile protective groups are fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl.

22. The method according to claim 20 , wherein said acid labile protective groups are tert-butyloxycarbonyl.