Sebastian Schillo

Droplet-Array (DA) Sandwich Chip: A Versatile Platform for High-Throughput Cell Screening Based on Superhydrophobic–Superhydrophilic Micropatterning

A droplet-array (DA) sandwich chip is a miniaturized platform for cell-based high-throughput screening. It is based on sandwiching of a glass slide with a preprinted library and a superhydrophobic-superhydrophilic pattern, which consists of thousands of simultaneously formed microdroplets containing cells. The DA sandwich chip allows for one-step cell seeding, simultaneous initiation of screening, and 1000 times less reagent consumption than a regular 96-well plate.

Particle-Based Microarrays of Oligonucleotides and Oligopeptides

In this review, we describe different methods of microarray fabrication based on the use of micro-particles/-beads and point out future tendencies in the development of particle-based arrays. First, we consider oligonucleotide bead arrays, where each bead is a carrier of one specific sequence of oligonucleotides. This bead-based array approach, appearing in the late 1990s, enabled high-throughput oligonucleotide analysis and had a large impact on genome research. Furthermore, we consider particle-based peptide array fabrication using combinatorial chemistry. In this approach, particles can directly participate in both the synthesis and the transfer of synthesized combinatorial molecules to a substrate. Subsequently, we describe in more detail the synthesis of peptide arrays with amino acid polymer particles, which imbed the amino acids inside their polymer matrix. By heating these particles, the polymer matrix is transformed into a highly viscous gel, and thereby, imbedded monomers are allowed to participate in the coupling reaction. Finally, we focus on combinatorial laser fusing of particles for the synthesis of high-density peptide arrays. This method combines the advantages of particles and combinatorial lithographic approaches.