Control and Implementation of a Real-Time Liquid Spotting System for Microarray Applications

This paper discusses the control and implementation of a real-time spotting system. It is intended for high-density high- yield microarray fabrication to facilitate diagnostic and research effort in genomics and proteomics. The method is based on a self-sensing fully automated aspiring/dispensing pin. System performance is evaluated by several batch runs with deionized water solutions of 0.3% fluorescent Cy-3 dye, which has similar physical properties to the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) probe materials. Experimental results show that this system is capable of fast and robust DNA/protein microarray fabrication in high volume while keeping spot size as small as 60 mum consistently. Based on the laser scanned images and experimental data of the spotted microarrays, it is also verified that this system can recognize and prevent the formation of abnormal spots.