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Printing ArraysThe Bauer Core has several robots that can be used to print arrays, each of which has unique features that make it best suited to specific applications. Please direct questions about these arrayers to Christian Daly (cdaly@cgr.harvard.edu). The preferred robot for printing nucleic acid microarrays is the OmniGrid by GeneMachines. This robot uses up to 48 quill-tip pins to print up to 100 slides. The pins take up about 0.5 µl when loading and print about 1nl onto each slide. Between samples, the pins can be washed with a sonicator or a water bath and dried by vacuum. The robot takes about one hour to set up and can print a 384-well plate in about 20 minutes when using 32 pins.
The Nanoprint arrayer is used for printing nucleic acids or proteins. It has cooled carriers for plates and a humidity-controlled chamber. The arrayer can print onto 60 regular microscope slides or 15 plate-sized pieces of glass. The Packard Biochip arrayer is a low-throughput robot that uses piezoelectric technology to deposit small volumes very accurately without contacting the slide surface. Four glass tips can individually dispense liquid in volumes down to 300 picoliters. The platter can hold up to 30 slides or 6 plates, or combinations of slides and plates. This arrayer is most often used by people printing protein arrays. |
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