Automating the dispensing of viscous biomaterials

Abstract

A mechanism for automating the delivery of viscous biomaterials is presented. This is essential for automating the crystallization of membrane proteins with in meso method. The bottleneck of the in meso method is to dispense highly viscous biomaterials which sticks to everything it contacts. It is especially challenging to dispense accurately small amounts (nano-liter) of biomaterial. In this paper, mathematical modeling of the shape and volume of the biomaterial delivered by the syringe is first performed. Optimal distance between the dispensing tool and the base of the well is then derived to guarantee the successful delivery of an accurate amount of the biomaterials. An effective path for robot to move the syringe is presented which has to be positioned at the optimal distance efficiently. Experimental results are presented to verify the theoretical results.