Chemical Inkjet Printer ChIP 1000

The Chemical Inkjet Printer ChIP 1000 is a unique device for delivering reagents on a micro-scale. Bringing together piezo-electric technology and surface target chemistry. Each droplet is less than 100pL and can be delivered to a specific surface location such as PVDF membranes, western blots or tissue slices.
The solvent delivery is a non contact method. To support the visualization of the droplet and the area of interest the system incorporates a camera and an in built scanner. The camera is used to ensure that droplet formation is correct whilst the visible light scanner is used to identify target areas on the surface and creating a target map. The key benefit for this technology is that researchers can consider true micro-scale applications whether it is based on fluorescence or mass spectrometry detection. Application areas include so far PMF and MS/MS analysis of proteins plotted on membranes, identification of proteins by immunochemistry reactions via western blotting as well as sample preparation for tissue imaging analysis.
It opens up new horizons in life science - specifically the promising application of tissue analysis by MALDI-MS.
The Chemical Inkjet Printer ChIP 1000 received the R and D award 2004. The R&D 100 award was bestowed by the independent judging panel and editors of R&D Magazine.