Microfabricated “Biomolecular Ink Cartridges”-Surface patterning tools (SPTs) for the printing of multiplexed biomolecular arrays

This paper reports the design and fabrication of multiple cantilever-based “surface patterning tools” (SPTs) for the construction of multiplexed biomolecular arrays. The SPT features a 1-D array of microcantilevers and a corresponding microfluidic network that is capable of transporting multiple fluid samples from macro-scale reservoirs located on the SPT substrate through micro-scale channels to the distal end of the cantilevers. Multiple protein samples can be efficiently transferred from reservoirs onto the distal end of the SPT cantilever array with no detectable cross-contamination. Thus, the multiple-cantilever SPTs can function as pre-loaded, ready-to-print biomolecular ink cartridges and are capable of depositing multiple proteins simultaneously with uniform spot sizes and protein coverage.