Many applications benefit from dividing a small liquid sample into hundreds or thousands microdroplets. One example is digitalized RNA based virus testing, where dividing the sample into smaller aliquots brings increased sensitivity and quantitativeness. A second example is spatial RNA sequencing, where a tissue is labelled with special labelling beads that have been deposited into an array of small droplets on the surface. This project utilizes the results of an earlier academic project where we developed a new technology to create an array of microdroplets. The method is based on surface nanostructures and a photolithographically patterned hydrophobic coating. We are developing automated system to load each spot with a microdroplet. The goal is to utilize the whole surface equally, evenly and reliably without user skill requirement. The surfaces and the new dowsing system will be applied to virus diagnostics and to spatial transcriptomics.

2026

2027