Optimization of an Antibody Microarray Printing Process Using a Designed Experiment

Antibody microarrays have proven useful in immunoassay-based point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases. Noncontact piezoelectric inkjet printing has advantages to print antibody microarrays on nitrocellulose substrates for this application due to its compatibility with sensitive solutions and substrates, simple droplet control, and potential for high-capacity printing. However, there remain real-world challenges in printing such microarrays, which motivated this study. The effects of three concentrations of capture antibody (cAb) reagents and nozzle hydrostatic pressures were chosen to investigate three responses: the number of printed membrane disks, dispensing performance, and microarray quality. Printing conditions were found to be most ideal with 5 mg/mL cAb and a nozzle hydrostatic pressure near zero, which produced 130 membrane disks in a single print versus the 10 membrane disks per print before optimization. These results serve to inform efficient printing of antibody microarrays on nitrocellulose membranes for rapid immunoassay-based detection of infectious diseases and beyond.