Wafer-Scale Patterning of Protein Templates for Hydrogel Fabrication

Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes are a potentially unlimited cell source and promising patient-specific in vitro model of cardiac diseases. Yet, these cells are limited by immaturity and population heterogeneity. Current in vitro studies aiming at better understanding of the mechanical and chemical cues in the microenvironment that drive cellular maturation involve deformable materials and precise manipulation of the microenvironment with, for example, micropatterns. Such microenvironment manipulation most often involves microfabrication protocols which are time-consuming, require cleanroom facilities and photolithography expertise. Here, we present a method to increase the scale of the fabrication pipeline, thereby enabling large-batch generation of shelf-stable microenvironment protein templates on glass chips. This decreases fabrication time and allows for more flexibility in the subsequent steps, for example, in tuning the material properties and the selection of extracellular matrix or cell proteins. Further, the fabrication of deformable hydrogels has been optimized for compatibility with these templates, in addition to the templates being able to be used to acquire protein patterns directly on the glass chips. With our approach, we have successfully controlled the shapes of cardiomyocytes seeded on Matrigel-patterned hydrogels.

Sensors for Thermal Characterization of Solid and Liquid Samples by 3-Omega Method

Microchips have been designed and fabricated for the fast thermal characterization of samples by extension of the 3-omega method. Both solid and liquid samples can be measured by applying a small amount of material under investigation on the chip containing a micro heater/sensor. Two types of chips have been fabricated and tested: silicon chips with porous silicon (PS) layer as thermal isolator and glass chips with through glass vias (TGVs) for the back side contacting of the top side heater/sensor.

Optofluidic Microlasers based on Femtosecond Micromachining Technology

We present the different optofluidic lasers which have been realized using the Femtosecond Micromachining technique to fabricate the monolithic optofluidic structures in glass chips. We show how the great flexibility of this 3D technique allows getting different kind of optical cavities. The most recent devices fabricated by this technique as ring shaped and Fabry-Perot resonators show excellent emission performances.We also point out how the addition of the inkjet printing technique provides further opportunities in realizing optofluidic chips.