“One Cell−One Well”: A New Approach to Inkjet Printing Single Cell Microarrays

A new approach to prepare arrays of sessile droplets of living single cell cultures using a liquid hydrophobic barrier prevents the samples from dehydrating, and allows for spatially addressable arrays for statistical quantitative single cell studies. By carefully advancing a thin layer of mineral oil on the substrate over the droplets during the printing, dehydration of the droplets can be prevented, and the vitality of the cells can be maintained. The net result of this confluence of submerged cell culturing and inkjet printing is facile access to spatially addressable arrays of isolated single cells on surfaces. Such single cell arrays may be particularly useful as high-throughput tools in the rapidly emerging "omics" fields of cell biology.