Dorian Liepmann (Advisor)

Oral delivery of proteins and large molecule drugs has been a challenge due to the denaturing effects of digestive environment, enzymatic destruction and poor GI mucus permeability, leading to extremely low drug bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy. In spite of considerable efforts over the past decades, oral delivery of proteins and large molecule drugs with low therapeutic efficacy and bioavailability remains a major challenge. There is a great need for a suitable oral delivery system which can maintain the protein integrity, improve bioavailability and overcome the mucus...

The unique properties of blood flow in microchannels has been studied for nearly a century; much of the observed blood-specific dynamics is attributed to the biconcave shape of red blood cells. However, for almost twice as long biologists have observed and characterized the differences in size and shape of red blood cells among vertebrates. With a few exceptions, mammals share the denucleated biconcave shape of erythrocytes but vary in size; oviparous vertebrates have nucleated ovoid red blood cells with size variations of a full order of magnitude. We utilize micro-PIV and pressure...

Microfluidic devices are currently limited in their application potential by the lack of appropriate sensors or integrated electrodes. Building on the work of Prof. Dorian Liepmann's lab in electrodeposited electrodes and hot embossing, where deposited electrodes in contact with fluid channels are composed primarily of nickel, we endeavor to develop a novel process for gold-electroplating those nickel surfaces, within the channel, after the chip has been constructed (in situ). By using this process the metallic surfaces in contact with the electrolyte in the channel can be chemically...

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...