The Multifunctional Pipette

Book chapter, 2018

This chapter presents the multifunctional pipette, a hydrodynamically confined volume device that has been specifically developed for single-cell superfusion in adherent cultures. The multifunctional pipette is a microfluidic device with three parallel open channels, which are used to create the hydrodynamically confined volume, concentrated at the tip of a pointed, pen-like structure consisting entirely of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The probably most distinct feature of the multifunctional pipette is the ability to change the solution at the outflow port without the need for mechanical actuation to block or unblock channels. The pipette is, like most of the other hydrodynamically confined flow (HCF) devices, a free-standing tool, which is in contrast to the earlier generation of open volume devices with parallel channels leading into a device-integrated open volume. The “laboratory on a molecularly thin membrane” is another, application of the multifunctional pipette, which focuses on precision writing and postwriting modification of artificial biomembranes on a variety of surfaces.