Microarray technology had a troubling beginning, but many problems resulted from the growing pains of this technology that, like many new things, was initially more promise than delivery. However, the promise has finally come to fruition, and microarray technology has developed into a mature technology that can generate valid and useful results in basic, translational, clinical trials, and now clinical practice. Much maturity resulted from the realization that microarrays are not some magic tool, but rather are like any other measurement device and that unless microarray experimentation is coupled with good experimental practices, it will not yield valid results or, worse yet, may lead to misleading results.
