Microfluidics

Research that includes: 

  • Microvalves and fluidic flow control
  • Micropumps
  • Modeling of microfluidics
  • Particulate air monitoring
  • Flow Sensors
  • Capillary Pump Loop
  • Optoelectronic Transport & Tweezers

BPN733: Optoelectronic Tweezers for Long-Term Single Cell Culture

Shao Ning Pei
Tiffany Dai
2015

In contrast to bulk analysis, analyzing biological samples on a single-cell level is a powerful tool in deriving a more complete, quantitative understanding of cellular behavior. The optoelectronic tweezers (OET) platform utilizes light-generated dielectrophoretic force to manipulate micro-scale objects reconfigurably on the device surface. Consequently, OET is able to select for individual cells and manipulate them into a specific configuration where these cells are cultured and studied for an extended period of time. Compared to trap-based single-cell techniques, the OET platform...

BPN679: Portable Microfluidic Pumping System for Point-Of-Care Diagnostics

Erh-Chia Yeh
2015

It is desirable for medical diagnostic assays to have portable and low cost pumping schemes. Although capillary loading is the most common example, it cannot load dead-end channels, often have fibres that obstruct optics, and have surface treatment or geometrical constraints. On the other hand, conventional degas pumping lacks flow control, speed, and reliability. Here we report a new portable pumping system that does not require any peripheral equipment or external power sources/controls. Compared with conventional degas pumping, it has ~8 times less standard deviation in speed, is...

BPN778: Single-cell MicroRNA Quantification for Gene Regulation Heterogeneity Study

Qiong Pan
Soongweon Hong
2015

MicroRNAs can affect individual cells’ epigenetic modifications in a variety of biological processes such as cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, cell differentiation and maintenance of stemness. These modifications can be largely heterogeneous depending on the internal and external factors. However, traditional tube- based qPCR or microarray system is lack of sensitivity and requires intensive labor and time input. Current integrated single- cell miRNA detection platforms are lack of the capacity of handling thousands of cells at the same time for statistical meaningful data...

BPN773: Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Hepatocytes (hiPSC-HPs)-based Organs on Chip

Alireza Salmanzadeh
2015

Three major barriers inhibit current research in human drug screening: experimental in vivo interventions in people have unacceptable risks; in vitro models of human tissue are primitive; and, non- human animal models are not directly comparable to humans. However, currently there is no in vitro platform that recapitulates physiological microenvironments using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). Here we demonstrated hiPSC-derived hepatocytes (hiPSC-HPs)-based organs on chip, consisting of three functional components: a cell culture pocket, an endothelium-like perfusion...

BPN775: Integrated Microfluidic Circuitry via Optofluidic Lithography

Kevin Korner
Casey Glick
2015

Mechanical engineering methods and microfabrication techniques offer powerful means for solving biological challenges. In particular, microfabrication processes enable researchers to develop technologies at scales that are biologically relevant and advantageous for executing biochemical reactions. Here, optofluidic lithography- based methodologies are employed to develop autonomous single-layer microfluidic components, circuits, and systems for chemical and biological applications.

Project end date: 09/19/15

BPN806: Very Large Scale Single Cell Microprocessor for Rapid Gene Analyzer: A Game-Changer for Single Cell Biology and Medicine

Liang Zhao
2015

Single cell transcriptional gene expression profiling is still highly plagued by limited starting material from single cells, time- consuming sample preparation, and lacks of game-changing platform that enables cells-in-answer-out analysis of an individual cell. To revolutionize this scenario, herein, we develop a very large scale integrated microfluidic single cell analyzer that allows rapid gene expression measurements within one hour over hundreds of single cells plus 24 genes via multiplex qPCR assay on a single chip in per run. In order to execute single cell gene analysis on...

BPN794: Bubble-Free Microfluidic PCR

Sanghun Lee
2015

Microfluidic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been of great interest owing to its ability to perform rapid and specific nucleic acid amplification and analysis on small volumes of samples. One of the major drawbacks of microfluidic PCR is bubble generation and reagent evaporation, which can cause malfunctions. Here, we propose a bubble-free microfluidic PCR device via controlled fluid transfer. We design the PCR chamber surrounding circumferential chamber allows a guided-fluid transport of generated bubble to circumferential chamber through thin nanoporous PDMS sidewall. We...

BPN706: Single-Layer Microfluidic Gain Valves via Optofluidic Lithography

Casey C. Glick
Kevin Korner
2016

This project aims to create single-layer microfluidic gain valves for use in microfluidic devices. Autonomous microfluidic devices are essential for the long-term development of versatile biological and chemical platforms; however, the challenges of creating effective control mechanisms – e.g., the need for variable pressure sources, signal degradation in cascaded devices, and multi-stage manufacture methods – have proven considerable. Using in situ optofluidic lithography, we develop a single-layer pressure-based valve system with a static gain greater than unity. We will...

BPN796: Low Reynolds Number Mixing using 3D Printed Microfluidics

Casey C. Glick
Eric C. Sweet
Kevin A. Korner
Yash Attal
Gregory Slatton
Ryan Jew
Josh Chen
2016

Mixing in microfluidic devices has long presented challenges due to the lack of significant turbulence at low Reynolds numbers. Although ample theoretical work has demonstrated methods to enhance microfluidic mixing (e.g., increasing vorticity, arranging chaotic flow profiles), many of these methods are difficult to achieve in practical microfluidic devices, requiring 2D approximations to fully 3D mixing enhancements. In this work, we will show that various designs for enhanced mixing are easily achievable using 3D printing. We will compare the performance of several different mixer...

BPN787: 3D-Printed Molds for Rapid Assembly of PDMS-based Microfluidic Devices

Casey C. Glick
2016

In this work, we demonstrate the use of 3D-printed molds for fabricating PDMS-based microfluidic devices. 3D Printing allows for the fabrication of molds that are not monolithic in structure, and therefore represents a significant improvement over the capabilities of standard soft lithography; with 3D-printed molds, we can fabricate most features commonly generated by soft lithography in addition to formerly difficult features such as domes and variable-sized channels. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this technique can be used to generate microfluidic devices molded on both sides -...