Preview: Small 3/2007

The cover picture shows an image of fluorescent-labeled double-stranded DNA molecules encoded for entire genes some 2000 base-pairs long.The molecules were immobilized on a silicon dioxide chip at one of their ends.The brightest regions of the image correspond to a high density of genes on the surface with 30 nm between molecules.Such gene chips can now be prepared using a new single-step biocompatible photolithographic interface.This interface provides an adequate and simple-to-use platform for biosynthetic reactions localized to submicrometer resolution.The ability to fabricate gene layouts on a chip opens many new possibilities to explore artificial biological systems based on cell-free gene expression at the scale of a living cell.For more information, please read the Full Paper, "A Single-Step Photolithographic Interface for Cell-Free Gene Expression and Active Biochips" by R. Bar-Ziv and co-workers in Issue 3 of Small.