Protein microarray technology has gone through numerous innovative developments in recent decades. In this review, we focus on the development of protein detection methods embedded in the technology. Early microarrays utilized useful chromophores and versatile biochemical techniques dominated by high-throughput illumination. Recently, the realization of label-free techniques has been greatly advanced by the combination of knowledge in material sciences, computational design and nanofabrication. These rapidly advancing techniques aim to provide data without the intervention of label molecules. Here, we present a brief overview of this remarkable innovation from the perspectives of label and label-free techniques in transducing nano-biological events.

Construction of a novel protein-detection system was carried out using a designed peptide library with fluorescent labels based on loop structures. As a basic model study, detection of alpha-amylase using fluorescent-labeled peptides derived from an active loop of tendamistat was examined. The detection methods for proteins with immobilized peptides as well as peptides in solution have been successfully established. Based on these results, a loop peptide library that has various turn sequences grafted on a stable loop structure has been constructed. Various proteins with recognition patterns corresponding, for instance, to "protein fingerprints" could be detected using an immobilized peptide library. The present results suggest that the system can be applied to the development of a peptide microarray that behaves as a protein chip.

Self-assembling peptides have been explored as building blocks to construct functional materials that can be used in a broad range of biomedical applications. This account gives an overview of the materials built from biomolecules and summarizes the cell culture and drug delivery applications of nanofibrous and hydrogel materials formed via self-assembly of peptides. The design flexibility of materials composed of calcium ion-responsive peptides, which offer a wide range of applications from cell culture scaffolds to drug releasing devices, is highlighted.

Assessment of PS by carotid ultrasonography together with other risk factor assessment was clinically relevant to predict the presence and severity of CAS.

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