title: Non-contact production of oligonucleotide microarrays using the highly integrated TopSpot nanoliter dispenser.
abstract: For the first time we report on the production of oligonucleotide microarrays using a highly parallel and highly integrated, pressure driven TopSpot nanoliter dispenser. The system enables non-contact printing of different media like oligonucleotides, DNA or protein solutions. We optimized the printing buffer needed for oligonucleotides microarrays production with respect to two major aspects: microfluidical optimum for droplet dispensing and biochemical coupling efficiency on different commercially available microarray slides. Coefficient of variations (CVs) of generated spot diameters were measured to be smaller than 1% within one single dispensing nozzle and smaller than 1.5% within all 24 parallel nozzles of the printhead for all printing buffers used. No carry-over and no cross-talk was found, in extensive experiments with oligonucleotides. Optimized printing buffer compositions and concentrations for oligonucleotide microarrays were found, as well as optimized coupling protocols. Furthermore, buffers and protocols were adapted to a host of different microarray slides used. With this system, prime critical points of microarray production are solved, leading to high quality high throughput microarray fabrication.
authors.affiliation: IMTEK- University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, D-79110 Freiburg, Germany. ogutmann@imtek.de
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gutmann
authors.forename: Remigius
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Niekrawietz
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuehlewein
authors.forename: Chris P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Steinert
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reinbold
authors.forename: Bas
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Heij
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daub
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zengerle
mesh_terms: D036103:Nanotechnology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis