Scalable additive construction of arrayed microstructures with encoded properties for bioimaging

Published

August 25, 2022

Author(s)

Matthew DiSalvo, Belén Cortés Llanos, Cody LaBelle, David Murdoch, Nancy Allbritton

Abstract

Microarrays are essential components of analytical instruments. The elements of microarrays may be imbued with additional functionalities and encodings using composite materials and structures, but traditional microfabrication methods present substantial barriers to fabrication, design, and scalability. In this work, a tool-free technique is reported to additively batch-construct micromolded, composite, and arrayed microstructures. The method required only a compatible carrier fluid to deposit a material onto a substrate with some topography. Permutations of this basic fabrication approach were leveraged to gain control over the volumes and positions of deposited materials within the microstructures. As a proof of concept, cell micro-carrier arrays were constructed to demonstrate a range of designs, compositions, functionalities, and applications for composite microstructures. This approach is envisioned to enable the fabrication of complex composite biological and/or synthetic microelements for biosensing, cellular analysis, and biochemical screening.

Citation

Micromachines

Volume

13

Issue

9

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13091392

Local Download

Keywords

Microfabrication, Microarray Analysis, Single-Cell Analysis, Biologic Assays

Citation

DiSalvo, M. , Cortés Llanos, B. , LaBelle, C. , Murdoch, D. and Allbritton, N. (2022), Scalable additive construction of arrayed microstructures with encoded properties for bioimaging, Micromachines, [online], https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13091392 , https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=933738 (Accessed October 7, 2025)