Applications of Nanotechnology in Array-Based Carbohydrate Analysis and Profiling

Glycomics has moved to a mainstream focus over the past quarter of a century. As a result, glycomics has become ever more dependent upon high-throughput analysis strategies to gain further insight and advance understanding of the roles of carbohydrates throughout biology. A rapid succession of developments during the last decade has led to the appearance of glycomic microarrays in many forms. Because nanoscale materials frequently have unique attributes that bulk materials lack, glycomic research is moving toward "nano" for the next wave of major improvements to array-based high-throughput analysis methods. This chapter examines some of the nanoscale technologies reported from 2010 through 2014, which are either currently incorporated into array-based glycomics or are technologies with great potential for future integration into such systems.