LabAutomation 2006 - SLAS

TP89
Wanli Xing
Tsinghua University School of Medicine
Beijing, China
wlxing@tsinghua.edu.cn
LabAutomation2006
Co-Author(s)
Dong Liang, Tsinghua University
Wanli Xing, Tsinghua University School of Medicine
Qiang Peng, Tsinghua University
Zhongyao Yu, National Engineering Research Center for Beijing
Biochip Technology
Jing Cheng, Tsinghua University School of Medicine
The Design and Development of a Gas Chromatography Column Chip With High Efficiency
The design, fabrication, and performance of a gas chromatography (GC) column chip with high efficiency are described. Wet chemical
etching formed a 3.46 m ¡Á 100 ¦Ìm ¡Á 48 ¦Ìm channel on a silicon wafer. A Pyrex glass wafer was anodically bonded to the silicon, forming
an intact column. Fused silica capillary connecting tubes were sealed into the laser-drilled inlet and outlet of the chip. A dynamic coating
method was used to deposit a film of nonpolar dimethyl polysiloxane stationary phase, SE-30. The chip was evaluated using a commercial
GC instrument. The height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) under the pressure of 55 psi was 0.30 mm for n-octane and 0.29 mm
for n-nonane, respectively. Both regression and comparison calculation led to the same conclusion that a rather low Hmin have been
achieved. In conclusion, we have made a GC column chip with greatly improved efficiency.
TP90
Keith Albert
Artel Marketing R&D
Westbrook, Maine
kalbert@artel-usa.com
Co-Author(s)
John Thomas Bradshaw
Tanya R. Knaide
Alexis L. Rogers
Verifying Volume Dispensing Device Performance for Complex and/or Non-Aqueous
Reagents: A New Approach
Multichannel volume dispensing devices, such as automated liquid handling (ALH) systems, are widely used in drug discovery assays
and other high-throughput screening processes. The performance of these systems is heavily based on the ability to deliver proper
volumes of specific reagents. For instance, because concentrations of species within an assay are volume-dependent, assay integrity
and the subsequent interpretation of assay results are directly tied to ALH performance. While ALH instruments are capable of handling
a wide array of reagent types, it is commonly known that performance parameters can vary significantly when the reagents are complex
in nature. When ALH systems are employed to aspirate/dispense aqueous-based reagents, there are many accepted methodologies
(including photometric and gravimetric) used to calibrate/verify the system’s ability to properly perform within a user’s tolerance window.
In other situations, however, ALH systems are employed to dispense complex and/or non-aqueous reagents (dimethyl sulfoxide, serum,
aqueous-based mixtures with detergents, etc.) for which there are fewer accepted methodologies to verify system performance. ALH
software packages incorporating computational algorithms may provide users with the ability to adjust aspirate/dispense parameters to
help compensate for liquid-dependent performance differences, but these parameters could lead to a false-sense of performance when a
custom, or complex, reagent is employed. We present our recent research on developing a novel photometric method for ALH calibration
and volume verification when dispensing complex and/or non-aqueous reagents. Accurate and reliable adjustment of ALH performance
using this method could have far-reaching adoption in all scientific communities for any volume dispensing device.
196