Protein microarray technology is one of the most powerful tools presently available for proteomic studies. Numerous types of protein microarrays have been widely and successfully applied for both basic biological studies and clinical researches, including those designed to characterize protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, protein-drug/small molecule and antibody-antigen interactions. In the past decade, a variety of protein microarrays have been developed, including those spotted with whole proteomes, smaller peptides, antibodies, and lectins. Featured as high-throughput, miniaturized, and capable of parallel analysis, the power of protein microarrays has already been demonstrated many times in both basic research and clinical applications. In this review, we have summarized the latest developments in the production and application of protein microarrays. We discuss several of the most important applications of protein microarray, ranging from proteome microarrays for large scale identification of protein-protein interactions to lectin microarrays for live cell surface glycan profiling, with special emphasis on their use in studies of drug mechanisms and biomarker discovery. Already with tremendous success, we envision protein microarrays will become an indispensible tool for any systems-wide studies, fostering the integration of basic research observations to clinically useful applications.