The use of microfluidic devices has experienced a tremendous increase over the last years, which is especially valuable for healthcare applications. In this context, plastic materials are increasingly relevant, especially for large scale fabrication and commercialization. However, plastics are still not widely used at the research level due to the lack of available inexpensive industrial-like fabrication equipment. In this work, we describe a rapid and highly cost-effective approach for fabricating plastic microfluidic devices with embedded microelectrodes, allowing 2D and 3D configurations. We present an interdigitated microelectrode configuration applied to impedance cytometry and cellular electroporation/lysis on-chip devices as an example of the great potential of this technology. Our long term goals are to further explore the potential of hot-embossed microscale devices as platforms for complete BioMEMS devices. This includes the integration of functionalized elements and silicon-based biosensors. A variety of functional coatings will be developed to apply integrated electrodes to many different sensing applications.
Project end date: 01/27/20