Ink-Jet Printing Perfect Tool for Cantilever Array Sensor Preparation for Microbial Growth Detection.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Sensors Volume 2012, Article ID 561256, 7 pages doi:10.1155/2012/561256 Research Article Ink-Jet Printing: Perfect Tool for Cantilever Array Sensor Preparation for Microbial Growth Detection G. Lukacs, N. Maloney, and M. Hegner CRANN School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Correspondence should be addressed to G. Lukacs, lukacsg@tcd.ie Received 15 June 2011; Accepted 22 August 2011 Academic Editor: Maria Tenje Copyright © 2012 G. Lukacs et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The use of microcantilever arrays for microbial growth detection provides a rapid and reliable technique for monitoring growth in industrial and clinical applications. Improving the reproducibility and sensitivity of this technique is of great importance. Ink-jet printing has been successfully used in microfabrication and biofabrication due to its high precision; however, only a few microbe-based applications have been reported. Here we demonstrate the advantages of its use for microcantilever based-growth sensing. Four microbial strains Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans were deposited and successfully grown on agarose-coated cantilevers by ink-jet printing. When compared to the capillary-coating method, ink-jet printing demonstrated more controlled cell deposition on cantilevers. The effect of various conditions on cell morphology was also investigated. 1. Introduction column to form a droplet. The droplet then flies freely with