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Applied Sciences
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Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications
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Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 19749

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Eric Chappel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Debiotech SA, Microsystems Department, Lausanne, Switzerland
Interests: medical devices; MEMS‬; microfluidics; insulin micropumps; implantable pumps; passive flow control valves; hydrocephalus shunts; microneedles; wearable bolus injectors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Microfluidics refers to the science of handling fluids in microstructures, and has been widely used in the medical field to miniaturize conventional drug delivery systems, bioassays, and diagnostics. Microfluidic technology provides improved mass transfer, mixing time, and heat exchange; precise flow control; higher precision; greater reliability and sensitivity; portability; and ease of production. It also reduces reagent quantity, shortens bioassay times, and helps in reducing the overall cost of the drug development process.

In this Special Issue, we invite researchers to submit original research papers, review articles, and short communications addressing technical challenges in developing and manufacturing microfluidic devices for medical and diagnostics applications. The papers can cover all aspects of medical microfluidic devices, including but not limited to recent developments in the following areas: drug discovery and delivery; micropumps and microvalves; bioMEMS; microneedles; integrated on-chip sensors; lab-on-chip (LOC), organ-on-chip (OOC), biomedical microfluidic devices; manipulation of biofluids and cells; micro total analysis system (mTAS); bioassays; diagnostics and theranostics; manipulation of biomolecules and biofluids; and point-of-care (POC) testing.

Dr. Eric Chappel
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • drug delivery
  • micropumps and microvalves
  • bioMEMS
  • microneedles
  • integrated on-chip sensors
  • lab-on-chip (LOC)
  • organ-on-chip (OOC)
  • biomedical microfluidic devices
  • manipulation of biofluids and cells
  • bioassays
  • diagnostics and theranostics
  • point-of-care (POC) testing
  • micro total analysis system (mTAS)

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 6426 KiB  
Article
Preparing and Characterizing Novel Biodegradable Starch/PVA-Based Films with Nano-Sized Zinc-Oxide Particles for Wound-Dressing Applications
by Mohammad Mohsen Delavari and Ion Stiharu
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(8), 4001; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12084001 - 15 Apr 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4161
Abstract
Given recent worldwide environmental concerns, biodegradability, antibacterial activity, and healing properties around the wound area are vital features that should be taken into consideration while preparing biomedical materials such as wound dressings. Some of the available wound dressings present some major disadvantages. For [...] Read more.
Given recent worldwide environmental concerns, biodegradability, antibacterial activity, and healing properties around the wound area are vital features that should be taken into consideration while preparing biomedical materials such as wound dressings. Some of the available wound dressings present some major disadvantages. For example, low water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), inadequate exudates absorption, and the complex and high environmental cost of the disposal/recycling processes represent such drawbacks. In this paper, starch/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) material with inserted nano-sized zinc-oxide particles (nZnO) (average size ≤ 100 nm) was made and altered using citric acid (CA). Both ensure an efficient antibacterial environment for wound-dressing materials. The film properties were assessed by UV–Vis spectrometry and were validated against the UV light transmission percentage of the starch/ polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/ zinc-oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) composites. Analyses were conducted using X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate the structure and surface morphology of the materials. Moreover, to validate an ideal moisture content around the wound area, which is necessary for an optimum wound-healing process, the water vapor transmission rate of the film was measured. The new starch-based materials exhibited suitable physical and chemical properties, including solubility, gel fraction, fluid absorption, biodegradability, surface morphology (scanning electron microscopy imaging), and mechanical properties. Additionally, the pH level of the starch-based/nZnO film was measured to study the prospect of bacterial growth on this wound-dressing material. Furthermore, the in vitro antibacterial activity demonstrated that the dressings material effectively inhibited the growth and penetration of bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications)
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20 pages, 4871 KiB  
Article
Piezoelectric Normally Open Microvalve with Multiple Valve Seat Trenches for Medical Applications
by Claudia Patricia Durasiewicz, Sophia Thekla Güntner, Philipp Klaus Maier, Wolfgang Hölzl and Gabriele Schrag
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(19), 9252; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11199252 - 5 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2508
Abstract
Microfluidic systems for medical applications necessitate reliable, wide flow range, and low leakage microvalves for flow path control. High design complexity of microvalves increases the risk of possible malfunction. We present a normally open microvalve based on energy-efficient piezoelectric actuation for high closing [...] Read more.
Microfluidic systems for medical applications necessitate reliable, wide flow range, and low leakage microvalves for flow path control. High design complexity of microvalves increases the risk of possible malfunction. We present a normally open microvalve based on energy-efficient piezoelectric actuation for high closing forces and micromachined valve seat trenches for reliable valve operation. A comprehensive investigation of influencing parameters is performed by extensive fluidic 3D finite element simulation, derivation of an analytical closed state leakage rate model, as well as fabrication and test of the microvalve. Additional valve seat coating and a high force actuator are introduced for further leakage reduction. The microvalve has a wide-open flow range as well as good sealing abilities in closed state. Extensive fatigue tests of 1 × 106 actuation cycles show that additional coating of the valve seat or increased actuator strength promote sealing performance stability. Analytical calculations of leakage are suitable to estimate experimentally obtained leakage rates and, along with computational fluidic dynamic (CFD) simulations, enable future microvalve design optimization. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the presented normally open microvalve is suitable for the design of safe and reliable microfluidic devices for medical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications)
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14 pages, 1660 KiB  
Article
Piezoelectric Silicon Micropump for Drug Delivery Applications
by Agnes Bußmann, Henry Leistner, Doris Zhou, Martin Wackerle, Yücel Congar, Martin Richter and Jürgen Hubbuch
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(17), 8008; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11178008 - 30 Aug 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4198
Abstract
Subcutaneous injection is crucial for the treatment of many diseases. Especially for regular or continuous injections, automated dosing is beneficial. However, existing devices are large, uncomfortable, visible under clothing, or interfere with physical activity. Thus, the development of small, energy efficient and reliable [...] Read more.
Subcutaneous injection is crucial for the treatment of many diseases. Especially for regular or continuous injections, automated dosing is beneficial. However, existing devices are large, uncomfortable, visible under clothing, or interfere with physical activity. Thus, the development of small, energy efficient and reliable patch pumps or implantable systems is necessary and research on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based drug delivery devices has gained increasing interest. However, the requirements of medical applications are challenging and especially the dosing precision and reliability of MEMS pumps are not yet sufficiently evaluated. To enable further miniaturization, we propose a precise 5 × 5 mm2 silicon micropump. Detailed experimental evaluation of ten pumps proves a backpressure capability with air of 12.5 ± 0.8 kPa, which indicates the ability to transport bubbles. The maximal water flow rate is 74 ± 6 µL/min and the pumps’ average blocking pressure is 51 kPa. The evaluation of the dosing precision for bolus deliveries with water and insulin shows a high repeatability of dosed package volumes. The pumps show a mean standard deviation of only 0.02 mg for 0.5 mg packages, and therefore, stay below the generally accepted 5% deviation, even for this extremely small amount. The high precision enables the combination with higher concentrated medication and is the foundation for the development of an extremely miniaturized patch pump. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications)
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Review

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17 pages, 1927 KiB  
Review
Anti-Cancer Drug Screening with Microfluidic Technology
by Mojdeh Monjezi, Milad Rismanian, Hamidreza Jamaati and Navid Kashaninejad
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(20), 9418; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11209418 - 11 Oct 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3979
Abstract
The up-and-coming microfluidic technology is the most promising platform for designing anti-cancer drugs and new point-of-care diagnostics. Compared to conventional drug screening methods based on Petri dishes and animal studies, drug delivery in microfluidic systems has many advantages. For instance, these platforms offer [...] Read more.
The up-and-coming microfluidic technology is the most promising platform for designing anti-cancer drugs and new point-of-care diagnostics. Compared to conventional drug screening methods based on Petri dishes and animal studies, drug delivery in microfluidic systems has many advantages. For instance, these platforms offer high-throughput drug screening, require a small number of samples, provide an in vivo-like microenvironment for cells, and eliminate ethical issues associated with animal studies. Multiple cell cultures in microfluidic chips could better mimic the 3D tumor environment using low reagents consumption. The clinical experiments have shown that combinatorial drug treatments have a better therapeutic effect than monodrug therapy. Many attempts have been made in this field in the last decade. This review highlights the applications of microfluidic chips in anti-cancer drug screening and systematically categorizes these systems as a function of sample size and combination of drug screening. Finally, it provides a perspective on the future of the clinical applications of microfluidic systems for anti-cancer drug development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications)
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29 pages, 7284 KiB  
Review
A Review of Passive Constant Flow Regulators for Microfluidic Applications
by Eric Chappel
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(24), 8858; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10248858 - 10 Dec 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4084
Abstract
This review gives an overview of passive constant flow regulators dedicated to microfluidic applications. Without external control and energy consumption, these devices deliver a constant flow rate regardless of pressure variations, making them very attractive for various microfluidic applications, including drug delivery, flow [...] Read more.
This review gives an overview of passive constant flow regulators dedicated to microfluidic applications. Without external control and energy consumption, these devices deliver a constant flow rate regardless of pressure variations, making them very attractive for various microfluidic applications, including drug delivery, flow chemistry, point-of-care tests, or microdialysis. This technical review examines progress over the last three decades in the development of these flow regulators and focuses on the working principle, fabrication methods, performance, and potential applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Microfluidic Devices for Medical Applications)
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