Printing processes

The development of biomaterials sometimes requires the flexible functionalization of surfaces, for example the coexistence of cell-adhesive and cell-rejecting areas or the combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic areas in the production of microfluidic test systems. With the help of digital printing processes such as inkjet printing or Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT), material layers can be applied to surfaces direct, i.e. without the elaborate manufacturing of masks, in any programmable patterns that are required.

At the Fraunhofer IGB we develop inkjet-suitable inks for coating surfaces with biological and biofunctional materials such as proteins or active substance-loaded, degradable particles. The high-precision inkjet printer DMP 3000 (Fujifilm Dimatix, USA) is available to produce functional layers with resolutions in the micrometer range.