Capillary pins for high-efficiency microarray printing device
First Claim
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1. A method of printing a microarray, said method comprising:
- providing an array substrate in a microarray printing device, said printing device comprising;
a microarray substrate holder attached to a platen wherein said substrate holder contains said array substrate; and
a microarray print head, said print head comprising;
a plurality of spotting capillaries disposed in a support that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of said capillaries, wherein said capillaries are coupled to pistons;
a vacuum chamber comprising an upper wall and a lower wall through which the capillaries and the pistons are disposed; and
a port in said chamber to which a vacuum can be applied;
wherein said pistons and capillaries are disposed such that increasing the vacuum in said chamber increases a force holding the pistons into the chamber and thereby increases the resistance of said capillaries to deflection away from a printing substrate;
providing a series of solutions comprising reagents that will form features of said microarray; and
operating said microarray printing device to print said micro array on the array substrate.
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Abstract
This invention provides improved components (e.g. array “pins”, print head, substrate platen, print head platen, and the like) for microarray printing devices as well as microarray printing devices incorporating such components. In one embodiment, this invention provides a microarray print head comprising a plurality of glass or quartz spotting capillaries disposed in a support that maintains a fixed spacing between the spotting capillaries and that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of the capillaries.
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44 Claims
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1. A method of printing a microarray, said method comprising:
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providing an array substrate in a microarray printing device, said printing device comprising; a microarray substrate holder attached to a platen wherein said substrate holder contains said array substrate; and a microarray print head, said print head comprising; a plurality of spotting capillaries disposed in a support that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of said capillaries, wherein said capillaries are coupled to pistons; a vacuum chamber comprising an upper wall and a lower wall through which the capillaries and the pistons are disposed; and a port in said chamber to which a vacuum can be applied; wherein said pistons and capillaries are disposed such that increasing the vacuum in said chamber increases a force holding the pistons into the chamber and thereby increases the resistance of said capillaries to deflection away from a printing substrate; providing a series of solutions comprising reagents that will form features of said microarray; and operating said microarray printing device to print said micro array on the array substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification