A dual-manifold assembly is provided for the rapid, parallel transfer of
liquid reagents from a microtiter plate to a solid state microelectronic
device having biological sensors integrated thereon. The assembly includes
aspiration and dispense manifolds connected by a plurality of conduits. In
operation, the aspiration manifold is actuated such that the aspiration
manifold is seated onto an array of reagent-filled wells of the microtiter
plate. The wells are pressurized to force reagent through conduits toward
the dispense manifold. A pressure pulse provided by a standard ink-jet
printhead ejects nanoliter-to-picoliter droplets of reagent through an
array of printhead orifices and onto test sites on the surface of the
microelectronic device.