A method for rapidly assembling high-density DNA arrays with near-perfect order is described. Photolithography is used to generate a wafer-scale array of microwells in a layer of photoresist on a chemically functionalized glass coverslip. The array is enclosed within a microfluidic device, and a suspension of superparamagnetic microbeads conjugated to DNA molecules is introduced into the chamber. A permanent magnet is used to direct the rapid assembly of the beads into the wells, with each well containing a single bead. These beads are immobilized on the glass surface via affinity binding, and excess beads can be recycled or washed away. Nonspecifically bound beads are removed by dissolving the photoresist. The result is a high-density array of beads with virtually no background. This method can be used to produce protein arrays for chip-based assays and DNA arrays for genotyping or genome sequencing.Some of the greatest breakthroughs in biomedical research can be attributed to the development of the numerous high-throughput technologies for quantitative measurements of biomolecules. Many of these technologies are made possible by microfabrication techniques commonly used in the semiconductor industry. For example, DNA and protein arrays fabricated by robotic printing and photolithographic methods have enabled extremely large-scale surveys of biomolecules. [1][2][3][4] The emerging "next generation" genome sequencing technologies, many of which utilize massive parallelization and miniaturization to achieve unprecedented multiplexing, throughput and cost reductions, [5][6][7][8][9][10] promise to revolutionize biomedical research and enable personalized healthcare. However, some of these technology platforms utilize randomly distributed DNA-conjugated microbeads or clones on a glass slide within a reaction chamber. The random arrangements of the beads or clones result in low throughput and imaging efficiency, complicated image processing, and high reagent costs. 6-10 One approach to dramatically improve these devices involves the use of microfabricated arrays to eliminate overlap and to minimize the area between the beads or clones.Such arrays can be generated by depositing samples onto glass slides using robotic contact printing, 2 microcontact printing, 11-13 or dip pen lithography. 14 These arrays can also be generated by assembling beads onto microfabricated arrays of wells on glass or silicon substrates [15][16][17][18] or in etched wells on the face of a fiber-optic bundle. 19,20 Since bead assembly will not occur in an efficient and reliable manner if the process depends solely upon gravitational forces and Brownian motion, this process is typically achieved via solvent evaporation or dewetting. [17][18][19][20][21] However, these approaches are not suitable when rapid assembly is required or sample drying is undesirable. Other groups have employed electric 22 and magnetic [23][24][25] assembly methods to overcome these issues, but these active approaches require multistep fabrication processes and...