Plug-in nanoliter pneumatic liquid dispenser with nozzle design flexibility

Abstract

This paper presents a novel plug-in nanoliter liquid dispensing system with a plugand-play interface for simple and reversible, yet robust integration of the dispenser. A plug-in type dispenser was developed to facilitate assembly and disassembly with an actuating part through efficient modularization. The entire process for assembly and operation of the plug-in dispenser is performed via the plug-and-play interface in less than a minute without loss of dispensing quality. The minimum volume of droplets pneumatically dispensed using the plug-in dispenser was 124 nl with a coefficient of variation of 1.6%. The dispensed volume increased linearly with the nozzle size. Utilizing this linear relationship, two types of multinozzle dispensers consisting of six parallel channels (emerging from an inlet) and six nozzles were developed to demonstrate a novel strategy for volume gradient dispensing at a single operating condition. The droplet volume dispensed from each nozzle also increased linearly with nozzle size, demonstrating that nozzle size is a dominant factor on dispensed volume, even for multinozzle dispensing. Therefore, the proposed plug-in dispenser enables flexible design of nozzles and reversible integration to dispense droplets with different volumes, depending on the application. Furthermore, to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed dispensing system, we developed a pencil-type dispensing system as an alternative to a conventional pipette for rapid and reliable dispensing of minute volume droplets. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Deterministic bead-in-droplet ejection utilizing an integrated plug-in bead dispenser for single bead–based applications

“…1b). On the basis of our experience in a previous study, the plug–socket connection technique was employed to allow easy and reversible sealing against fluid flow and air compression22. The inlet reservoir, dispensing reservoir, outlet container, and pneumatic line 1 are connected to the bead inlet of the plug-in dispenser, the dispensing inlet, bead outlet, and pneumatic inlet via the plug–socket connection, respectively.…”

“…Furthermore, for reversible integration between a dispenser and a liquid cartridge, our previously developed plug–socket method that uses a macro-to-micro connector was adopted. This strategy offers disposability and easy replacement of the dispenser22. In this study, our proposed system was characterized under various operating conditions to realize automatic and deterministic BIDE.…”

Modelling on the droplet formation and optimizing of the microfluidic cartridge used for the microfluidic impact printing

“…Streule et al reported a device, named single-cell-manipulator (SCM), with a separable piezo-stack actuator [14]. Choi et al [15] and Kim et al [16] developed a novel nanoliter liquid dispensing system with plug-and-play dispensers and detachable pneumatic pump. Furthermore, Bsoul et al presented a disposable ink-jet dispenser technology and demonstrated a Lab-on-a-printer concept through using an ink-jet dispenser and a microfluidic mixer [17].…”

Dotette: Programmable, high-precision, plug-and-play droplet pipetting

“…2 Therefore, an ideal replacement for the handheld micropipette is highly sought-after, which would keep its existing features of easiness-to-operate and small form factor, while offering high accuracy and automation from the latest development and being compatible with existing protocols, in addition to affordability for research laboratories. 1,3,16 Besides the above-mentioned industrial attempts, a number of researchers from the emerging microfluidic community have extended various alternative approaches to tackle liquidhandling and small-volume operations in laboratories. For instance, Qin's group has reported a convenient means to combine a micropipette with microfluidic-designed tips to isolate single cells for transcriptome analysis in submicroliter volumes.…”

“…19 Moreover, Kim's group has developed a disposable plug-and-play nanoliter dispensing system for rapid and reliable dispensing of minute volume droplets into multi-well plates. 16 Gelinsky's group has adopted a piezoelectric nanoliter pipette for in situ functionalization of scaffolds during extrusion-based 3D plotting. 20 Recently, to enable quantitative control in high-throughput screening, Neild's group incorporated volume pipetting functions in droplet microfluidic chips via surface acoustic waves.…”