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Improving piezoelectric cell printing accuracy and reliability through neutral buoyancy of suspensions
Author(s) -
Chahal Daljeet,
Ahmadi Ali,
Cheung Karen C.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.24562
Subject(s) - microfluidics , materials science , nozzle , reproducibility , drop (telecommunication) , piezoelectricity , ficoll , suspension (topology) , repeatability , neutral buoyancy , nanotechnology , buoyancy , inkwell , chromatography , chemistry , composite material , mechanical engineering , engineering , mechanics , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , biochemistry , physics , mathematics , homotopy , pure mathematics , in vitro
The sedimentation and aggregation of cells within inkjet printing systems has been hypothesized to negatively impact printer performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate this influence through the use of neutral buoyancy. Ficoll PM400 was used to create neutrally buoyant MCF‐7 breast cancer cell suspensions, which were ejected using a piezoelectric drop‐on‐demand inkjet printing system. It was found that using a neutrally buoyant suspension greatly increased the reproducibility of consistent cell counts, and eliminated nozzle clogging. Moreover, the use of Ficoll PM400 was shown to not affect cellular viability. This is the first demonstration of such scale and accuracy achieved using a piezoelectric inkjet printing system for cellular dispensing. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109: 2932–2940. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.