Search Results (23)

Continuous perfusion is necessary to sustain microphysiological systems and other microfluidic cell cultures. However, most of the established microfluidic perfusion systems, such as syringe pumps, peristaltic pumps, and rocker plates, have several operational challenges and may be cost-prohibitive, especially for laboratories with no microsystems engineering expertise. Here, we address the need for a cost-efficient, easy-to-implement, and reliable microfluidic perfusion system. Our solution is a modular pumpless perfusion assembly (PPA), which is constructed from commercially available, interchangeable, and aseptically packaged syringes and syringe filters. The total cost for the components of each assembled PPA is USD 1–2. The PPA retains the simplicity of gravity-based pumpless flow systems but incorporates high resistance filters that enable slow and sustained flow for extended periods of time (hours to days). The perfusion characteristics of the PPA were determined by theoretical calculations of the total hydraulic resistance of the assembly and experimental characterization of specific filter resistances. We demonstrated that the PPA enabled reliable long-term culture of engineered endothelialized 3-D microvessels for several weeks. Taken together, our novel PPA solution is simply constructed from extremely low-cost and commercially available laboratory supplies and facilitates robust cell culture and compatibility with current microfluidic setups. Full article

The demand for easy-to-use, affordable, accessible, and reliable technology is increasing in biological, chemical, and medical research. Microfluidic devices have the potential to meet these standards by offering cost-effective, highly sensitive, and highly specific diagnostic tests with rapid performance and minimal sample volumes. Traditional microfluidic device fabrication methods, such as photolithography and soft lithography, are time-consuming and require specialized equipment and expertise, making them costly and less accessible to researchers and clinicians and limiting the applicability and potential of microfluidic devices. To address this, researchers have turned to using new low-cost materials, such as double-sided tape for microfluidic device fabrication, which offers simple and low-cost processes. The innovation of low-cost and easy-to-make microfluidic devices improves the potential for more devices to be transitioned from laboratories to commercialized products found in stores, offices, and homes. This review serves as a comprehensive summary of the growing interest in and use of double-sided tape-based microfluidic devices in the last 20 years. It discusses the advantages of using double-sided tape, the fabrication techniques used to create and bond microfluidic devices, and the limitations of this approach in certain applications. Full article

Sepsis, a life-threatening condition resulting from a failing host response to infection, causes millions of deaths annually, necessitating rapid and simple prognostic assessments. A variety of genomic and proteomic biomarkers have been developed for sepsis. For example, it has been shown that the level of plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating histones increases considerably during sepsis, and they are linked with sepsis severity and mortality. Developing a diagnostic tool that is capable of assessing such diverse biomarkers is challenging as the detection methodology is quite different for each. Here, a fully integrated microfluidic device capable of detecting a genomic biomarker (cfDNA) and a proteomic biomarker (total circulating histones) using a common detection platform has been demonstrated. The microfluidic device utilizes dehydrated agarose gates loaded with pH-specific agarose to electrophoretically trap cfDNA and histones at their respective isoelectric points. It also incorporates fluorescent dyes within the device, eliminating the need for off-chip sample preparation and allowing the direct testing of plasma samples without the need for labeling DNA and histones with fluorescent dyes beforehand. Xurography, which is a low-cost and rapid method for fabrication of microfluidics, is used in all the fabrication steps. Experimental results demonstrate the effective accumulation and separation of cfDNA and histones in the agarose gates in a total processing time of 20 min, employing 10 and 30 Volts for cfDNA and histone accumulation and detection, respectively. The device can potentially be used to distinguish between the survivors and non-survivors of sepsis. The integration of the detection of both biomarkers into a single device and dye immobilization enhances its clinical utility for rapid point-of-care assessment of sepsis prognosis. Full article

Due to advances in additive manufacturing and prototyping, affordable and rapid microfluidic sensor-integrated assays can be fabricated using additive manufacturing, xurography and electrode shadow masking to create versatile platform technologies aimed toward qualitative assessment of acute cytotoxic or cytolytic events using stand-alone biochip platforms in the context of environmental risk assessment. In the current study, we established a nasal mucosa biosensing platform using RPMI2650 mucosa cells inside a membrane-integrated impedance-sensing biochip using exclusively rapid prototyping technologies. In a final proof-of-concept, we applied this biosensing platform to create human cell models of nasal mucosa for monitoring the acute cytotoxic effect of zinc oxide reference nanoparticles. Our data generated with the biochip platform successfully monitored the acute toxicity and cytolytic activity of 6 mM zinc oxide nanoparticles, which was non-invasively monitored as a negative impedance slope on nasal epithelial models, demonstrating the feasibility of rapid prototyping technologies such as additive manufacturing and xurography for cell-based platform development. Full article

Drug delivery systems are engineered platforms for the controlled release of various therapeutic agents. This paper presents a conductive gold leaf-based microfluidic platform fabricated using xurography technique for its potential implication in controlled drug delivery operations. To demonstrate this, peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils (EOs) were selected as target fluids, which are best known for their medicinal properties in the field of dentistry. The work takes advantage of the high conductivity of the gold leaf, and thus, the response characteristics of the microfluidic chip are studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) upon injecting EOs into its micro-channels. The effect of the exposure time of the chip to different concentrations (1% and 5%) of EOs was analyzed, and change in electrical resistance was measured at different time intervals of 0 h (the time of injection), 22 h, and 46 h. It was observed that our fabricated device demonstrated higher values of electrical resistance when exposed to EOs for longer times. Moreover, eucalyptus oil had stronger degradable effects on the chip, which resulted in higher electrical resistance than that of peppermint. 1% and 5% of Eucalyptus oil showed an electrical resistance of 1.79 kΩ and 1.45 kΩ at 10 kHz, while 1% and 5% of peppermint oil showed 1.26 kΩ and 1.07 kΩ of electrical resistance at 10 kHz respectively. The findings obtained in this paper are beneficial for designing suitable microfluidic devices to expand their applications for various biomedical purposes. Full article

Hemagglutination is a critical reaction that occurs when antigens expressed on red blood cells (RBCs) react with the antibodies used for blood typing. Even though blood typing devices have been introduced to the market, they continue to face several limitations in terms of observation by the eye alone, blood manipulation difficulties, and the need for large-scale equipment, particularly process automated machines. Thus, this study aimed to design, fabricate, and test a novel hybrid passive microfluidic chip made of filter paper and polymer using a cost-effective xurography manufacturing technique. This chip is referred to as the microfluidic paper–plastic hybrid passive device (PPHD). A passive PPHD does not require external sources, such as a syringe pump. It is composed of a paper-based component that contains dried antibodies within its porous paper and a polymer component that serves as the detection zone. A single blood sample was injected into the chip’s inlet, and classification was determined using the mean intensity image. The results indicated that embedded antibodies were capable of causing RBC agglutination without a saline washing step and that the results could be classified as obviously agglutination or nonagglutination for blood typing using both the naked eye and a mean intensity image. As a proof-of-concept, this study demonstrated efficiency in quantitative hemagglutination measurement within a passive PPHD for blood typing, which could be used to simplify blood biomarker analysis. Full article

In this paper, a microwave microfluidic sensor based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) was proposed for ultrasensitive detection of dielectric constant. A novel unit cell for the SSPP structure is proposed and its behaviour and sensing potential analysed in detail. Based on the proposed cell, the SSPP microwave structure with a microfluidic reservoir is designed as a multilayer configuration to serve as a sensing platform for liquid analytes. The sensor is realized using a combination of rapid, cost-effective technologies of xurography, laser micromachining, and cold lamination bonding, and its potential is validated in the experiments with edible oil samples. The results demonstrate high sensitivity (850 MHz/epsilon unit) and excellent linearity (R² = 0.9802) of the sensor, which, together with its low-cost and simple fabrication, make the proposed sensor an excellent candidate for the detection of small changes in the dielectric constant of edible oils and other liquid analytes. Full article

Miniaturization of different measurement processes and a scaled-down approach open the possibility for rapid measurements with the small amounts of samples and reagents into a compact platform with integrated sensors and different measuring components. In this paper, we report a microfluidic approach for measurements of salivary pH, dissolved O₂, and CO₂ during chewing xylitol gum. The study was done with the samples of 30 healthy volunteers who were chewing a xylitol gum, and the measurements were performed in the microfluidic (MF) chip with integrated commercial PreSens sensors. Xylitol exhibited a significant effect on the pH of saliva in terms of its initial drop, which was the most significant between the 5th and 10th minutes. The effect of xylitol on the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in saliva cannot be confirmed. The employed microfluidic platform was shown to be applicable and effective in the analysis of salivary biomarkers relevant to caries development. Full article

Antioxidants are essential in regulating various physiological functions and oxidative deterioration. Over the past decades, many researchers have paid attention to antioxidants and studied the screening of antioxidants from natural products and their utilization for treatments in diverse pathological conditions. Nowadays, as printing technology progresses, its influence in the field of biomedicine is growing significantly. The printing technology has many advantages. Especially, the capability of designing sophisticated platforms is useful to detect antioxidants in various samples. The high flexibility of 3D printing technology is advantageous to create geometries for customized patient treatment. Recently, there has been increasing use of antioxidant materials for this purpose. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in printing technology-based assays to detect antioxidants and 3D printing-based antioxidant therapy in the field of tissue engineering. This review is divided into two sections. The first section highlights colorimetric assays using the inkjet-printing methods and electrochemical assays using screen-printing techniques for the determination of antioxidants. Alternative screen-printing techniques, such as xurography, roller-pen writing, stamp contact printing, and laser-scribing, are described. The second section summarizes the recent literature that reports antioxidant-based therapy using 3D printing in skin therapeutics, tissue mimetic 3D cultures, and bone tissue engineering. Full article

This work presents a new multilayered microfluidic platform, manufactured using a rapid and cost-effective xurography technique, for the detection of drug concentrations in sweat. Textile fabrics made of cotton and polyester were used as a component of the platform, and they were positioned in the middle of the microfluidic device. In order to obtain a highly conductive textile, the fabrics were in situ coated with different amounts of polyaniline and titanium dioxide nanocomposite. This portable microfluidic platform comprises at least three layers of optically transparent and flexible PVC foils which were stacked one on top of the other. Electrical contacts were provided from the edge of the textile material when a microfluidic variable resistor was actually created. The platform was tested in plain artificial sweat and in artificial sweat with a dissolved cytostatic test drug, cyclophosphamide, of different concentrations. The proposed microfluidic device decreased in resistance when the sweat was applied. In addition, it could successfully detect different concentrations of cytostatic medication in the sweat, which could make it a very useful tool for simple, reliable, and fast diagnostics. Full article

Microsystems are key enabling technologies, with applications found in almost every industrial field, including in vitro diagnostic, energy harvesting, automotive, telecommunication, drug screening, etc. Microsystems, such as microsensors and actuators, are typically made up of components below 1000 microns in size that can be manufactured at low unit cost through mass-production. Yet, their development for commercial or educational purposes has typically been limited to specialized laboratories in upper-income countries due to the initial investment costs associated with the microfabrication equipment and processes. However, recent technological advances have enabled the development of low-cost microfabrication tools. In this paper, we describe a range of low-cost approaches and equipment (below £1000), developed or adapted and implemented in our laboratories. We describe processes including photolithography, micromilling, 3D printing, xurography and screen-printing used for the microfabrication of structural and functional materials. The processes that can be used to shape a range of materials with sub-millimetre feature sizes are demonstrated here in the context of lab-on-chips, but they can be adapted for other applications. We anticipate that this paper, which will enable researchers to build a low-cost microfabrication toolbox in a wide range of settings, will spark a new interest in microsystems. Full article

This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations of a novel passive micromixer based on the lamination of fluid layers. Lamination-based mixers benefit from increasing the contact surface between two fluid phases by enhancing molecular diffusion to achieve a faster mixing. Novel three-dimensional split and recombine (SAR) structures are proposed to generate fluid laminations. Numerical simulations were conducted to model the mixer performance. Furthermore, experiments were conducted using dyes to observe fluid laminations and evaluate the proposed mixer’s characteristics. Mixing quality was experimentally obtained by means of image-based mixing index (MI) measurement. The multi-layer device was fabricated utilizing the Xurography method, which is a simple and low-cost method to fabricate 3D microfluidic devices. Mixing indexes of 96% and 90% were obtained at Reynolds numbers of 0.1 and 1, respectively. Moreover, the device had an MI value of 67% at a Reynolds number of 10 (flow rate of 116 µL/min for each inlet). The proposed micromixer, with its novel design and fabrication method, is expected to benefit a wide range of lab-on-a-chip applications, due to its high efficiency, low cost, high throughput and ease of fabrication. Full article

The microfluidics domain has been progressing rapidly recently, particularly considering its useful applications in the field of biomedicine. This paper presents a novel, microfluidics-based design for four fundamental circuit elements in electronics, namely resistor, inductor, capacitor, and memristor. These widely used passive components were fabricated using a precise and cost-effective xurography technique, which enables the construction of multi-layered structures on foil, with gold used as a conductive material. To complete their assembly, an appropriate fluid was injected into the microfluidic channel of each component: the resistor, inductor, capacitor, and memristor were charged with transformer oil, ferrofluid, NaCl solution, and TiO₂ solution, respectively. The electrical performance of these components was determined using an Impedance Analyzer and Keithley 2410 High-Voltage Source Meter instrument and the observed characteristics are promising for a wide range of applications in the field of microfluidic electronics. Full article

Concrete is a material that is widely used by mankind. Although different deterioration mechanisms can lead to degradation of the concrete itself, reinforcement corrosion is the biggest durability issue for reinforced concrete structures. One of the key parameters influencing the corrosion rate is pH value. Accordingly, this work presents two capacitive sensor platforms—one based on parallel plate electrodes and the other based on a planar interdigitated electrode structure. The first platform is used to determine whether the pH value is lower or higher than a predetermined limit (around 11) and this device was successfully tested using concrete suspensions. The second platform can determine the pH value by establishing a relationship between pH and measured capacitance from a powdered concrete specimen. Both multi-layered platforms were manufactured by means of a cost-effective xurography technique, which provides technically and mechanically robust structures very quickly. Full article

A fabrication method is developed to produce a microfluidic device to test cell adhesion to polymeric materials. The process is able to produce channels with walls of any spin coatable polymer. The method is a modification of the existing poly-dimethylsiloxane soft lithography method and, therefore, it is compatible with sealing methods and equipment of most microfluidic laboratories. The molds are produced by xurography, simplifying the fabrication in laboratories without sophisticated equipment for photolithography. The fabrication method is tested by determining the effective differences in bacterial adhesion in five different materials. These materials have different surface hydrophobicities and charges. The major drawback of the method is the location of the region of interest in a lowered surface. It is demonstrated by bacterial adhesion experiments that this drawback has a negligible effect on adhesion. The flow in the device was characterized by computational fluid dynamics and it was shown that shear stress in the region of interest can be calculated by numerical methods and by an analytical equation for rectangular channels. The device is therefore validated for adhesion tests. Full article