2017-LS-168 - Pico-Scale Liquid Dispensing System

SFU is seeking a robotic system that will reproducibly dispense extremely small (i.e. picolitre) volumes of liquids into complex arrays with a high degree of accuracy.
The pico-scale liquid dispensing system (pLDS) must include image recognition software, high resolution stage(s), and camera(s) to align droplets with substrate features, including accurately positioning droplets on existing drops. The pLDS must dispense reagents and withdraw precise sample volumes of the products at specified time intervals, allowing researchers to create combinatorial approaches to optimize synthetic processes (e.g., varying catalyst types and concentrations) and to analyze the properties of their products. Reaction kinetics could be inferred from these analyses to optimize the preparation of specific molecular targets, polymers, colloids, and other materials. Researchers will also gain new insight into the design of synthetic targets by correlating the properties of their products to the composition and structure of these products.