A Low-Cost Laser-Based Nano-3D Polymer Printer for Rapid Surface Patterning and Chemical Synthesis of Peptide and Glycan Microarrays

A low-cost laser-based printing setup is presented, which allows for the spot-wise patterning of surfaces with defined polymer nanolayers. These nanolayer spots serve as a "solid solvent," embedding different chemicals, chemical building blocks, materials, or precursors and can be stacked on top of each other. By melting the spot pattern, the polymer-embedded molecules are released for chemical reaction. This enables researchers to quickly pattern a surface with different molecules and materials, mixing them directly on the surface for high-throughput chemical synthesis to generate and screen diverse microarray libraries. In contrast to expensive ink-jet or contact printing, this approach does not require premixing of inks, which enables in situ combinatorial mixing. Easy access and versatility of this patterning approach are shown by generating microarrays of various biomolecules, such as glycans for the first time, to screen interactions of antibodies and lectins. In addition, a layer-by-layer solid-phase synthesis of peptides directly on the microarray is presented. Amino acid-containing nanolayers are repeatedly laser-transferred and reacted with the functionalized acceptor surface in defined patterns. This simple system enables a reproducible array production, down to spot-to-spot distances of 100 mu m, and offers a flexible and cheap alternative to expensive spotting robot technology.