SlideImprinter

The SlideImprinter is a much more effective and productive way to partition slides used in laboratory and microarray analysis. This instrument is ideal for high throughput screening where multiple assays need to be run on a single examination slide with minimal risk of contamination between assays.

Traditionally, rubber gaskets (with or without adhesive), hydrophobic markers, or manufactured (teflon) barriers have been used to segregate slide areas. Gaskets without adhesive may not seal well. Gaskets with adhesive may also leak as the adhesive can be soluble in some solvents and interfere with the experiments. Gaskets also need to be removed before scanning which can cause the entire slide coating to peel. Hydrophobic markers (PAP pens) are very tedious and messy to apply, can be soluble in certain solvents, and the resulting slides are often irreproducible and inaccurate. Lastly, manufactured barriers are expensive and not flexible to design.

The SlideImprinter provides a convenient way to define multiple wells on a single microscope slide to create separated regions for sampling. This is done through imprinting a thin, inert, hydrophobic film line onto the surface of a slide through the use of a designed stamp. The stamp is immersed in a bath. A slide is inserted into a cartridge above the bath. The stamp is lifted to meet the slide, imprinting barrier lines. Since the deposits are thin, the resulting slide with lines can be inserted directly into a slide scanner without any modifications. The coating, being highly hydrophobic, does not dissolve in most solvent systems, and will stay on the slide through multiple wash steps.

The SlideImprinter offers flexibility in slide partition design, adhesion with any slide surface chemistry, stability in most solvents through repeated washes, is chemically inert to testing, and the barrier does not need to be removed prior to scanning.