SBIR Phase I: Low Volume Reloadable Printhead for Microarray Production

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将设计和制造一种可重新加载的打印头，用于喷墨将生物液体沉积到微阵列中。现有工具不能很好地解决中端微阵列(数百种不同流体)的生产问题。光刻技术价格昂贵，周转时间长，现有的单次喷射设备体积很大。可重新装填的打印头将填补这一细分市场。该项目的第一步将是使用数值模拟和模型来优化打印头的几何尺寸，以实现低装载量和最佳操作。将建造专门的打印头进行评估和模拟验证。第二步将包括设备的实际制造。制造的打印头的功能将使用一组寡核苷酸探针进行验证，该探针旨在检测人类白细胞抗原(HLA)基因的多态。目前的研究表明，人类白细胞抗原II类基因多态性与宫颈癌的发生有关。用更少的一组探针生产的微阵列将被制造出来，并与预制的目标DNA杂交。考虑到使用可再加载的打印头来制作用于宫颈癌遗传易感性研究的微阵列，将设计一套完整的探针组。该项目在微阵列领域的商业应用。在完成第一阶段和第二阶段的工作后，预计将通过销售用于微阵列生产的打印头和打印系统以及通过实际生产获得收入。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will design and build a reloadable printhead for ink-jet deposition of biological fluids into microarrays. Production of mid range microarrays (hundreds of different fluids) is not best addressed by the existing tools. Photolithography is expensive and with long turnaround time and existing single jet devices have large volumes. The reloadable printhead will fill this market segment. The first step in this project will be to optimize the geometrical dimensions of the printhead using numerical simulations and models for a low loading volume and for best operation. Special printheads will be built for evaluation and simulation verification. The second step would consist of the actual fabrication of the devices. Functionality of the fabricated printheads will be verified using a set of oligonucleotide probes designed to detect polymorphism in the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genes. Current research indicates a correlation between the class II HLA polymorphism and the occurrence of cervical cancer. Microarrays produced with a reduced set of probes will be fabricated and hybridized with prefabricated target DNA. A design of a full probe set will be made considering the use of the reloadable printhead to fabricate microarrays for investigating genetic susceptibility of cervical cancer.The commercial application of this project is in the area of microarrays. On completion of the work through Phase I and Phase II, revenues are expected to be obtained through sales of the printhead and printing systems for microarray production, and through actual production .