Inkjet dispensing technology: applications in drug discovery

The past year has seen significant advances in the reduction to practice of inkjet dispensing technology in drug discovery applications. Although much of the work in this area has been done by relatively few ‘early innovators’, broader acceptance of the feasibility of the use of inkjet dispensing is on the rise. Of the three main areas of drug discovery — genomics, high-throughput screening, and combinatorial chemistry — high-throughput screening has had the most applications to date. The burgeoning field of genomics has seen rapid incorporation of technologies that enable miniaturization of gene expression experiments. Inkjet dispensing has a clear role in this effort. Finally, as the miniaturization needs of combinatorial chemistry become more clear, inkjet dispensing technology will potentially play a role.