Microarrays

A method of preparing a microarray comprising steps of:

• a) providing a micro-LED array light source comprising an integrated substrate, wherein the substrate comprises an array of reaction sites, wherein each reaction site comprises an anchored functional group and is associated with a micro-LED of the array;
• b) providing a reaction chamber in fluid communication with the array of reaction sites;
• c) synthesizing a plurality of polymers on the reaction sites by iterative cycles of:
• i) introducing a light quencher molecule to the reaction chamber;
• ii) activating the micro-LED associated with one or more of the reaction sites to deprotect the anchored functional group;
• iii) introducing a subunit comprising a non-anchored functional group protected by a photolabile group to the reaction chamber such that the deprotected anchored functional group binds the subunit and anchors it to the polymer;
• and
• iv) removing unbound subunits.

A method of characterizing an interaction between a polymer and an analyte comprising:

• a) providing a solution comprising the analyte;
• b) providing a microarray comprising:
• i) a micro-LED array light source comprising an integrated substrate;
• and
• ii) a plurality of polymers attached to the substrate in an array of features corresponding to the micro-LED array, wherein the features have a density of at least 10 features per cm2;
• c) adding the solution to the micro-LED array such that the analyte binds to one or more of the polymers to form a polymer-analyte complex;
• d) removing unbound analyte;
• and
• e) locating the features of the array to which the polymer-analyte complex is bound to characterize the interaction.