1. Nanoliter Centrifugal Liquid Dispenser Coupled with Superhydrophobic Microwell Array Chips for High-Throughput Cell Assays
- Author
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Xiaofang Chen, Jianxiong Zhang, Peng Liu, Wang Yuyi, Wu Yushuai, and Chen Yue
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Materials science ,Mechanical Engineering ,lcsh:Mechanical engineering and machinery ,Microfluidics ,microfluidics ,Nanotechnology ,Cell chip ,Chip ,microwell array ,high-throughput screening ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,nanoliter liquid dispensing ,030104 developmental biology ,Control and Systems Engineering ,Reagent ,lcsh:TJ1-1570 ,drug screening ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,superhydrophobicity - Abstract
Microfluidic systems have been regarded as a potential platform for high-throughput screening technology in drug discovery due to their low sample consumption, high integration, and easy operation. The handling of small-volume liquid is an essential operation in microfluidic systems, especially in investigating large-scale combination conditions. Here, we develop a nanoliter centrifugal liquid dispenser (NanoCLD) coupled with superhydrophobic microwell array chips for high-throughput cell-based assays in the nanoliter scale. The NanoCLD consists of a plastic stock block with an array of drilled through holes, a reagent microwell array chip (reagent chip), and an alignment bottom assembled together in a fixture. A simple centrifugation at 800 rpm can dispense ~160 nL reagents into microwells in 5 min. The dispensed reagents are then delivered to cells by sandwiching the reagent chip upside down with another microwell array chip (cell chip) on which cells are cultured. A gradient of doxorubicin is then dispensed to the cell chip using the NanoCLD for validating the feasibility of performing drug tests on our microchip platform. This novel nanoliter-volume liquid dispensing method is simple, easy to operate, and especially suitable for repeatedly dispensing many different reagents simultaneously to microwells.
- Published
- 2018