MICROFLUIDIC NETWORKS FOR CHEMICAL PATTERNING OF SUBSTRATE - DESIGN AND APPLICATION TO BIOASSAYS

This article describes the design, function, and application of simple microfluidic networks as conduits for the patterned delivery of chemi cal reactants onto a substrate. It demonstrates how such networks, mad e in an elastomer, allow simultaneous delivery of functionally distinc t molecules onto targeted regions of a surface (Delamarche, E. et al. Science 1997, 276, 779-781). Microfluidic networks generally consume l ess than microliter quantities of solution and are thus well suited fo r use when the required reagents are scarce or precious, as often occu rs in experiments and technologies that place biochemicals on solid pl anar substrates. We illustrate some of the particular challenges of do ing chemistry inside the narrow confines of capillaries defined by flu idic networks, in addition to the advantages attendant to this approac h, in the context of forming patterned arrays of different, and functi onal, immunoglobulins useful in highly localized biological assays.