Piezopumps for Microstimulation of Tissue

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This phase 2 SBIR proposal is concerned with a new device which utilizes a technique developed for an ink-jet writing machine. This device should allow the delivery of very small amounts of fluid in the close proximity of a cell. Cells communicate with each other by secreting chemical messengers, such as hormones and neurotransmitters and it would be important, both for theoretical and practical purposes, to be able to replicate this process. This device promises to do precisely that. If the design is successfully implemented it will be possible to deliver minute amounts of chemicals known or suspected to be cellular messengers, directly onto the surface of cells. Also, it will be possible to deliver drugs suspected to interfere with cellular communications. For this reason the device could become an important tool in the pharmaceutical industry.