Acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) uses a pulse of ultrasound to move low volumes of fluids (typically nanoliters or picoliters) without any physical contact.
ADE technology is a very gentle process, and it can be used to transfer proteins, high molecular weight DNA and live cells without damage or loss of viability.
This feature makes the technology suitable for a wide variety of applications including proteomics and cell-based assays.
This technique was refined in the 1970s and 1980s by Xerox and IBM[2] and other organizations to provide a single droplet on-demand for printing ink onto a page.
Touchless acoustic transfer provides a coefficient of variation (CV) that is significantly lower than other techniques and is independent of volume at the levels tested.