| There is an enormous demand for higher throughput peptide microchips, fueled by its effectiveness as a biological and pharmaceutical research tool. To help meet these demands, a fully automated peptide synthesis system has been developed that dispenses in nanoliter volumes. The motivation is to advance the technique of SPOT-synthesis through automation in order to produce a compact microchip with 16 peptides cm2 at a high throughput rate. This system is based on a JetLab printing system fabricated at MicroFab Technologies, Inc. and utilizes Lee VHS nanoliter dispensing valves in combination with SPOT-synthesis techniques and Fmoc chemistry. Through HPLC/MS analysis the creation of a 5-mer peptide chain on a (PEG) derivatized cellulose membrane with a 40% purity has been verified. |
