Direct-Write Patterning of Bacterial Cells by Dip-Pen Nanolithography

Jieun Kim, Young-Hun Shin, Seong-Hun Yun, Dong-Sik Choi, Ji-Hye Nam, Sung Ryong Kim, Sung-Kwon Moon, Bong Hyun Chung, Jae-Hyuck Lee, Jae-Ho Kim, Ki-Young Kim, Kyung-Min Kim, and Jung-Hyurk Lim

Publication Date (Web): September 19, 2012 (Communication)

DOI: 10.1021/ja3073808

J. Am. Chem. Soc., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/ja3073808

Publication Date (Web): September 19, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

The ability of dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) to generate nano- or microarrays of soft or hard materials (e.g., small molecules, DNA, proteins, nanoparticles, sols, and polymers) in a direct-write manner has been widely demonstrated. The transporting of large-sized ink materials such as bacteria, however, remains a significant challenge with this technique. The size limitation of the water meniscus formed between the DPN tip and the solid surface becomes a bottleneck in such diffusion-based molecular transport experiments. Herein, we report a straightforward “stamp-on” DPN method that uses a nanostructured poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) hydrogel-coated tip and carrier agents to generate patterns of micrometer-sizedEscherichia coli JM 109 bacterial cells. We demonstrate that this approach enables the deposition of a single bacterial cell array on a solid surface or arrays of layers of multiple cells by modulating the viscosity of the “ink” solution. Fluorescence microscopy images indicated that the deposited bacterial cells were kept alive on Luria–Bertani-agar layered solid surfaces after DPN patterning.