US Patent 7361310 - Dip pen nanolithography of nucleic acids

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7361310.html

This is a fairly fundamental patent to Dr.Chad Mirkin's group based on using dip pen nanolithography to transfer nucleic acids to a substrate. Claim 1 reads:


1. A method for generating nanoscale patterns of nucleic acid on a substrate comprising:

modifying a scanning probe microscope tip to have a positive charge and form a modified tip;

coating the modified tip with an ink composition comprising solvent, nucleic acid and inorganic salt;

positioning the modified and coated scanning probe microscopic tip relative to a substrate so that the tip and substrate approach each other at a relative humidity sufficiently high so that nucleic acid is transferred from the tip to the substrate to form a stable nanoscale pattern on the substrate.