Microfluidics

Research that includes: 

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

BPN845: 3D Printed Finger-Powered Microfluidic Pump and Mixer

Eric C. Sweet
Ilbey Karakurt
Rudra R. Mehta
2016

Low-powered microfluidic systems have been demonstrated in a variety of point-of-care biomedical diagnostic applications; however, the potential for the widespread commercial applicability of this technology, the requirement for being portable, disposable and inexpensive, is greatly hindered by the nearly-ubiquitous need for bulky and expensive externally- powered pressure sources needed to pump fluids through such devices. Furthermore, as advanced additive manufacturing techniques such as micro/nano-scale 3D printing are becoming more widely used in BioMEMS manufacturing,...

BPN732: The Role of Erythrocyte Size and Shape in Microchannel Fluid Dynamics

Kathryn Fink
Karthik Prasad
2017

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...

BPN730: Microfluidic Blood Plasma Separation for Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Jun Ho Son
ByungRae Cho
2017

Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip (LOC) device for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics have been widely developed for the rapid detection of infectious diseases such as HIV, TB and Malaria. Blood plasma separation is an initial step for most blood-based diagnostics. Although, centrifuge method is the classical bench-top technique, it is time and labor intensive, and therefore, automation and integration of blood plasma separation in the LOC device is ideal for POC diagnostics. Here, we propose a novel microfluidic blood plasma separation device for POC diagnostics. A membrane filter for...

BPN824: Investigation of Dengue Infection’s Neurological Complications via a Comprehensive In Vitro Brain Model

SoonGweon Hong
Minsun Song
2017

Dengue fever is one of global health concerns as two fifth of world population are considered to expose to the infection risk and 20K patients results in death per year. Even after successful recovery from the febrile disease, it often causes secondary neurological complications including encephalopathy, residual brain damage and seizures. However, unclear etiological details of neurological disorders still inhibit to uncover suitable treatments of the complications. Herein, we develop an in-vitro brain model for the comprehensive systematic analysis of neurological complications due...

BPN711: Point-of-Care System for Quantitative Measurements of Blood Analytes Using Graphene-Based Sensors

Marc Chooljian
2017

Serum glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and HbA1C monitoring are all valuable tools in the health management of the aging population, especially given the increase in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Even for glucose monitoring, the challenges obtaining sufficiently accurate and reliable measurements are so significant that the FDA is contemplating more stringent standards. Guido Freckmann, et al., J. Diabetes Sci. Tech. 6, 1060-1075, 2012, have compared 43 blood glucose self- monitoring systems. Out of this, 34 systems were completely assessed and 27 (79.4%) systems fulfilled...

BPN863: In Situ Gold Plating of Microfluidic Devices

Marc Chooljian
2017

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...

BPN893: 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) Isolation

Juhong Chen
2018

Isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples has important prognostic and therapeutic implications for cancer treatments but the process is very challenging due to the low concentration of CTCs. In this study, we report a novel 3D printed microfluidic device functionalized with anti-EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) antibodies to isolate CTCs from human blood samples. A multi-jet 3D printing technology is utilized with specially designed interior structures to enabe high surface area and fluid flow manipulation to increase the capture efficiency of tumor...

BPN846: 3D Printed Biomedical and Diagnostic Systems

Eric C. Sweet
Nathaniel Liu
Reed Vickerman
2019

This work presents a novel handheld, manually-actuated microfluidic prototype designed for on-site colorimetric detection of infectious pathogens in drinking water. We have also developed a custom drop-casting protocol we use to pre-load the entirely 3D printed device, fabricated via ultra-high resolution additive manufacturing technology, with colorimetric enzymatic reagents and bacteria-specific nutrients, which we use to experimentally detect Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in model drinking water, as well as to determine a limit of detection of 1e6 cfu/mL of E. coli in 6...

BPN774: Applications of 3D Printed Integrated Microfluidic Circuitry, Finger-Powered Pumps, and Mixers

Eric Sweet
Jacqueline Elwood
2019

In this ongoing project we have previously developed a new class of three-dimensional modular fluidic operators (i.e. fluidic diodes, capacitors and transistors); passive 3D internally- rifled mixers; and have previously demonstrated low- cost one-way pumping and mixing systems powered solely by the operator’s finger. In this semesters presentation we feature a 3D printed micromixer-integrated microfluidic gradient generator for antibiotic screening. Every year, more than twenty thousand people in the United States die from antibiotic- resistant bacterial infections. Despite...

BPN906: Integrated Zebrafish Analysis Platform (iZAP) for the Systematic Study of Neurological Disorders and Drug Discovery

Wonseok Kim
Youngseop Lee
2019

A vertebrate model, zebrafish is popularly used to investigate biological systems, especially for neurological disorders and drug discovery. This animal has experimental advantages such as fecundity, breeding convenience, genetic homology to human, and optical transparency. However, laborious and invasive procedures have been required for electrophysiological studies for brain investigation. In this project, we developed an Integrated Zebrafish Analysis Platform (iZAP) for the systematic analysis of neurological disorders and drug discovery. The iZAP is an integrated electrical...