On the Channel Capacity of High-Throughput Proteomic Microarrays

This paper examines the information transmission capacity of a high-density protein microarray based on an equivalent model of a multi-analyte molecular communication system. The capacity of the microarray is computed by taking into account the performance limiting factors such as channel diffusion characteristics, the channel noise and the saturation properties of the receptor probes. Our modeling study shows that using receptor probes with specific combinatorial properties can significantly improve the system capacity by facilitating joint detection of multiple analytes. This is in contrast to the conventional wisdom prevalent in the design of proteomic assays where the receptors are synthesized to be target specific with minimal levels of cross-reactivity with non-specific targets. It is envisioned that the availability of capacity bounds will provide a more systematic approach for designing the receptors (antibodies, aptamers, or enzymes) since their binding properties can be optimized to maximize the assay throughput.