A system designed to dispense small-molecule compounds dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) into ANSI-standard microtiter plate was developed and commercialized by Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2011. This commercial system, which included the HP D300 Digital Dispenser and the T8 Dispensehead Cassette, was reported at the Digital Fabrication 2011 Conference [1] and an early beta version of the system was reported at the Digital Fabrication 2006 Conference [2]. The D300, based on HP's Scalable Printing Technology (SPT), has proven to be a useful tool for conducting pharmaceutical research with compounds in DMSO [3,4,5]. The large dynamic range enabled by non-contact picoliter dispensing enables the rapid creation of dose-response experiments, including multi-level drug-drug interaction experiments. In this contribution, we discuss key improvements to the system since commercial release, most importantly, the expansion of the capability of the system to enable the dispensing of various aqueousbased biomolecules, including proteins, DNA, lipids, and nanoparticles. We will discuss challenges in developing these new capabilities, especially around enabling DMSO and aqueous-based fluids to be dispensed accurately from a common dispensehead, and examples of the types of experiments that are now enabled. We will also discuss future directions to further expand the utility of the digital dispensing platform in pharmaceutical and life science research.
Jeff Nielsen, Christie Dudenhoefer, Ken Duda, Michael Day, Dennis Esterberg, Ed Grenier, Dave Ochs, Matt Still, Debora Thomas, Ken Ward, Joshua Yu, "Thermal Inkjet System Enabling Biomolecule Dispensing for Life Science Research" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies and Digital Fabrication (NIP31), 2015, pp 402 - 405, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2015.31.1.art00089_1