scholarly journals 3D Printed Integrated Multi-Layer Microfluidic Chips for Ultra-High Volumetric Throughput Nanoliposome Preparation

Author(s):  
Han Shan ◽  
Qibo Lin ◽  
Danfeng Wang ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Biao Quan ◽  
...  

Although microfluidic approaches for liposomes preparation have been developed, fabricating microfluidic devices remains expensive and time-consuming. Also, owing to the traditional layout of microchannels, the volumetric throughput of microfluidics has been greatly limited. Herein an ultra-high volumetric throughput nanoliposome preparation method using 3D printed microfluidic chips is presented. A high-resolution projection micro stereolithography (PμSL) 3D printer is applied to produce microfluidic chips with critical dimensions of 400 µm. The microchannels of the microfluidic chip adopt a three-layer layout, achieving the total flow rate (TFR) up to 474 ml min−1, which is remarkably higher than those in the reported literature. The liposome size can be as small as 80 nm. The state of flows in microchannels and the effect of turbulence on liposome formation are explored. The experimental results demonstrate that the 3D printed integrated microfluidic chip enables ultra-high volumetric throughput nanoliposome preparation and can control size efficiently, which has great potential in targeting drug delivery systems.

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-87
Author(s):  
Wenqiong Su ◽  
Yulong Li ◽  
Lulu Zhang ◽  
Jiahui Sun ◽  
Shuopeng Liu ◽  
...  

Typography-like templates for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chips using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) three-dimensional (3D) printer are presented. This rapid and fast proposed scheme did not require complicated photolithographic fabrication facilities and could deliver resolutions of ~100 μm. Polylactic acid (PLA) was adopted as the material to generate the 3D-printed units, which were then carefully assembled on a glass substrate using a heat-melt-curd strategy. This craft of bonding offers a cost-effective way to design and modify the templates of microfluidic channels, thus reducing the processing time of microfluidic chips. Finally, a flexible microfluidic chip to be employed for cell-based drug screening was developed based on the modularized 3D-printed templates. The lithography-free, typography-like, 3D-printed templates create a modularized fabrication process and promote the prevalence of integrated microfluidic systems with minimal requirements and improved efficiency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yushen Zhang ◽  
Tsun-Ming Tseng ◽  
Ulf Schlichtmann

AbstractState-of-the-art microfluidic systems rely on relatively expensive and bulky off-chip infrastructures. The core of a system—the microfluidic chip—requires a clean room and dedicated skills to be fabricated. Thus, state-of-the-art microfluidic systems are barely accessible, especially for the do-it-yourself (DIY) community or enthusiasts. Recent emerging technology—3D-printing—has shown promise to fabricate microfluidic chips more simply, but the resulting chip is mainly hardened and single-layered and can hardly replace the state-of-the-art Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chip. There exists no convenient fluidic control mechanism yet suitable for the hardened single-layered chip, and particularly, the hardened single-layered chip cannot replicate the pneumatic valve—an essential actuator for automatically controlled microfluidics. Instead, 3D-printable non-pneumatic or manually actuated valve designs are reported, but their application is limited. Here, we present a low-cost accessible all-in-one portable microfluidic system, which uses an easy-to-print single-layered 3D-printed microfluidic chip along with a novel active control mechanism for fluids to enable more applications. This active control mechanism is based on air or gas interception and can, e.g., block, direct, and transport fluid. As a demonstration, we show the system can automatically control the fluid in microfluidic chips, which we designed and printed with a consumer-grade 3D-printer. The system is comparably compact and can automatically perform user-programmed experiments. All operations can be done directly on the system with no additional host device required. This work could support the spread of low budget accessible microfluidic systems as portable, usable on-the-go devices and increase the application field of 3D-printed microfluidic devices.


Author(s):  
Derek Sanchez ◽  
Greg Nordin ◽  
Troy Munro

Abstract As analysis systems shrink in size to microfluidic scales and devices, there is a need to improve temperature control in the microscale for temperature-sensitive processes. Technology that combines accurate temperature measurement and 3D spatial control of the temperature distribution is limited by common 2D layer-based microfluidic fabrication techniques but can be realized with 3D printed microfluidic chips. This work presents an iterative process to create a microfluidic chip using multi-material 3D printing to improve temperature sensing and create an even temperature around a target volume. Through an iterative process, verification is presented of fluorophore viability (specifically CdTe quantum dots) after being secured in place by cured PR48 3D printing resin, thus confirming the possibility of fluorescent thermometry as an accurate non-contact temperature sensing method. Numerical analyses of various geometries of chip design iterations are also presented verifying spatially even heating due to the placement of heating sources in the microfluidic chip. Combining the fluorescent thermometry and improved heating will lead to improved temperature control in microfluidic devices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srividya Gorantla ◽  
Tejashree Waghule ◽  
Vamshi Krishna Rapalli ◽  
Prem Prakash Singh ◽  
Sunil Kumar Dubey ◽  
...  

Hydrogels are aqueous gels composed of cross-linked networks of hydrophilic polymers. Stimuli-responsive based hydrogels have gained focus over the past 20 years for treating ophthalmic diseases. Different stimuli-responsive mechanisms are involved in forming polymer hydrogel networks, including change in temperature, pH, ions, and others including light, thrombin, pressure, antigen, and glucose-responsive. Incorporation of nanocarriers with these smart stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems that can extend the duration of action by increasing ocular bioavailability and reducing the dosing frequency. This review will focus on the hydrogel drug delivery systems highlighting the gelling mechanisms and emerging stimuli-responsive hydrogels from preformed gels, nanogels, and the role of advanced 3D printed hydrogels in vision-threatening diseases like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. It also provides insight into the limitations of hydrogels along with the safety and biocompatibility of the hydrogel drug delivery systems.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Rudyk ◽  
Sami Al-Khamisi ◽  
Yahya Al-Wahaibi

AbstractFactors limiting foam injection for EOR application are exceptionally low rock permeability and exceedingly high salinity of the formation water. In this regard, foam formation using internal olefin sulfonate is investigated over a wide salinity range (1, 5, 8, 10, and 12% NaCl) through 10 mD limestone. The relationships between pressure drop (dP), apparent viscosity, liquid flow rate, total flow rate, salinity, foam texture, and length of foam drops at the outlet used as an indicator of viscosity are studied. Foaming is observed up to 12% NaCl, compared to a maximum of 8% NaCl in similar core-flooding experiments with 50 mD limestone and 255 mD sandstone. Thus, the salinity limit of foam formation has increased significantly due to the low permeability, which can be explained by the fact that the narrow porous system acts like a membrane with smaller holes. Compared to the increasing dP reported for highly permeable rocks, dP linearly decreases in almost the entire range of gas fraction (fg) at 1–10% NaCl. As fg increases, dP at higher total flow rate is higher at all salinities, but the magnitude of dP controls the dependence of apparent viscosity on total flow rate. Low dP is measured at 1% and 10% NaCl, and high dP is measured at 5, 8, and 12% NaCl. In the case of low dP, the apparent viscosity is higher at higher total flow rate with increasing gas fraction, but similar at two total flow rates with increasing liquid flow rate. In the case of high dP, the apparent viscosity is higher at lower total flow rate, both with an increase in the gas fraction and with an increase in the liquid flow rate. A linear correlation is found between dP or apparent viscosity and liquid flow rate, which defines it as a governing factor of foam flow and can be considered when modeling foam flow.


Author(s):  
Mahima Singh ◽  
Sriramakamal Jonnalagadda

AbstractThis study evaluates the suitability of 3D printed biodegradable mats to load and deliver the topical antibiotic, neomycin, for up to 3 weeks in vitro. A 3D printer equipped with a hot melt extruder was used to print bandage-like wound coverings with porous sizes appropriate for cellular attachment and viability. The semicrystalline polyester, poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) was used as the base polymer, coated (post-printing) with polyethylene glycols (PEGs) of MWs 400 Da, 6 kDa, or 20 kDa to enable manipulation of physicochemical and biological properties to suit intended applications. The mats were further loaded with a topical antibiotic (neomycin sulfate), and cumulative drug-release monitored for 3 weeks in vitro. Microscopic imaging as well as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies showed pore dimensions of 100 × 400 µm. These pore dimensions were achieved without compromising mechanical strength; because of the “tough” individual fibers constituting the mat (Young’s Moduli of 50 ± 20 MPa and Elastic Elongation of 10 ± 5%). The in vitro dissolution study showed first-order release kinetics for neomycin during the first 20 h, followed by diffusion-controlled (Fickian) release for the remaining duration of the study. The release of neomycin suggested that the ability to load neomycin on to PLLA mats increases threefold, as the MW of the applied PEG coating is lowered from 20 kDa to 400 Da. Overall, this study demonstrates a successful approach to using a 3D printer to prepare porous degradable mats for antibiotic delivery with potential applications to dermal regeneration and tissue engineering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 2050010
Author(s):  
Saeed Saeedvand ◽  
Hadi S. Aghdasi ◽  
Jacky Baltes

Although there are several popular and capable humanoid robot designs available in the kid-size range, they lack some important characteristics: affordability, being user-friendly, using a wide-angle camera, sufficient computational resources for advanced AI algorithms, and mechanical robustness and stability are the most important ones. Recent advances in 3D printer technology enables researchers to move from model to physical implementation relatively easy. Therefore, we introduce a novel fully 3D printed open platform humanoid robot design named ARC. In this paper, we discuss the mechanical structure and software architecture. We show the capabilities of the ARC design in a series of experimental evaluations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 964 ◽  
pp. 240-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaliya Rasyida ◽  
Thalyta Rizkha Pradipta ◽  
Sigit Tri Wicaksono ◽  
Vania Mitha Pratiwi ◽  
Yeny Widya Rakhmawati

Utilization of brown algae especially in Madura, where it’s close to Surabaya, only limited for food. This become a reference for developing and increasing the potential of this algae by extracting one of the ingredients, namely alginate. This paper deals with the characterization of sodium alginate extracted from sargassum sp. using modified-purified calcium routes. The extracted sodium alginate will be further used as composite hydrogel materials and compared with commercial sodium alginate. Hereafter, the synthesized composite is expected to be bio-ink for 3d printer. Chemical composition analysis were analyzed using X-Ray Fluorosense (XRF) followed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis to identify the functional group of composite and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, viscosity bath is performed to compare the viscosity of extracted and commercial one. The result shows that modified-purified calcium routes in the extraction process of sodium alginate is desirable for improving their properties. Interestingly enough, with the goal of using it as bio-ink in 3d printed fabrication, the synthesized composite shows viscosity, 300 cSt, which meets the criteria for bio-ink in 3d printer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 548 ◽  
pp. 254-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan He ◽  
Bai Ling Huang ◽  
Yong Lai Zhang ◽  
Li Gang Niu

In this paper, a simple and facile technique for manufacturing glass-based microfluidic chips was developed. Instead of using expensive dry etching technology, the standard UV lithography and wet chemical etching technique was used to fabricate microchannels on a K9 glass substrate. The fabrication process of microfluidic chip including vacuum evaporation, annealing, lithography, and BHF (HF-NH4F-H2O) wet etching were investigated. Through series experiments, we found that anneal was the critical factor for chip quality. As a representative example, a microfluidic channel with 20 m of depth, and 80 m of width was successfully prepared, and the channel surfaces are quite smooth. These results present a simple, low cost, flexible and easy way to fabricate glass-based microfluidic chips.


2002 ◽  
Vol 02 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 297-312
Author(s):  
WEN-JEI YANG ◽  
AMR EID ◽  
R. ECHIGO

An experimental study is performed to extract minute gas bubbles from liquids flowing in a simulated cardiopulmonary bypass system using a Venturi-aspirator unit. In other words, oxygen bubbles in oxygenated blood are simulated by air bubbles in water with AP30 (about same viscosity as whole blood). This study is intended to determine the feasibility of using a Venturi aspirator unit to extract minute gas bubbles from a simulated cardiopulmonary bypass system. Testing of the Venturi-type bubble extraction is carried out using three different test sections. Two Venturis are used, and a straight tube configuration is used as a control. The two Venturis are similar, with the exception that one has a longer inlet cone which causes the entering liquid to accelerate at a slower rate. Results are obtained for effectiveness of the aspirator unit as functions of total flow rate, extraction suction, suction pressure difference, and hydraulic head. It is concluded from the study that:(i) The effectiveness of the Venturis is typically between 90 and 100 percent. It increases with an increase in suction or suction pressure difference but decreases with an increase in total flow rate.(ii) The Venturi is most suitable for extraction of minute gas bubbles, especially for use with AP30 (whole blood), which yields substantially higher effectiveness than water.(iii) It is anticipated that a Venturi-aspirator unit can be superior to other bubble separation device as the cardiopulmonary bypass system for applications in extra corporeal blood oxygenation.


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