Electrically actuated, pressure-driven microfluidic pumps

Munyan, Jason W.; Fuentes, Hernan V.; Draper, M. H.; Kelly, Ryan; Woolley, Adam T.

doi:10.1039/b309788a

Cited by 45 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In the past, fluidic control included syringe pumps (11), hydrogel valves (12), gravity-driven pumps (13), evaporation-based pumps (14,15), acoustic pumps (16), gas-generationbased pumps (17,18), and centrifugal force in CD chips (19). Electrokinetic flow (20)(21)(22), thermopneumatic (23,24), pneumatic͞hydraulic (25), or mechanical (26,27) valves and pumps have a high degree of control, but require external connection lines to larger equipment for actuation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Computerized microfluidic cell culture using elastomeric channels and Braille displays

Zhu

Futai

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

373

312

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Computer-controlled microfluidics would advance many types of cellular assays and microscale tissue engineering studies wherever spatiotemporal changes in fluidics need to be defined. However, this goal has been elusive because of the limited availability of integrated, programmable pumps and valves. This paper demonstrates how a refreshable Braille display, with its grid of 320 vertically moving pins, can power integrated pumps and valves through localized deformations of channel networks within elastic silicone rubber. The resulting computerized fluidic control is able to switch among: (i) rapid and efficient mixing between streams, (ii) multiple laminar flows with minimal mixing between streams, and (iii) segmented plug-flow of immiscible fluids within the same channel architecture. The same control method is used to precisely seed cells, compartmentalize them into distinct subpopulations through channel reconfiguration, and culture each cell subpopulation for up to 3 weeks under perfusion. These reliable microscale cell cultures showed gradients of cellular behavior from C2C12 myoblasts along channel lengths, as well as differences in cell density of undifferentiated myoblasts and differentiation patterns, both programmable through different flow rates of serumcontaining media. This technology will allow future microscale tissue or cell studies to be more accessible, especially for highthroughput, complex, and long-term experiments. The microfluidic actuation method described is versatile and computer programmable, yet simple, well packaged, and portable enough for personal use.pump ͉ valve ͉ bioreactor ͉ mixer ͉ perfusion A dvanced microfluidic cellular assays (1-6) and microscale tissue engineering studies (7-10) would benefit from robust and convenient methods to computer-control accurate spatiotemporal patterns of microfluidic flows in arrays of fluidic networks. In the past, fluidic control included syringe pumps (11), hydrogel valves (12), gravity-driven pumps (13), evaporation-based pumps (14, 15), acoustic pumps (16), gas-generationbased pumps (17, 18), and centrifugal force in CD chips (19). Electrokinetic flow (20-22), thermopneumatic (23, 24), pneumatic͞hydraulic (25), or mechanical (26, 27) valves and pumps have a high degree of control, but require external connection lines to larger equipment for actuation. A few fully integrated and self-packaged systems (23, 28) have been developed, but lack the reconfigurability inherent with numerous active valves and pumps.Here, we report a method to precisely control fluid flow inside elastomeric capillary networks by using multiple (tens to hundreds) computer-controlled, piezoelectric, movable pins. These pins are positioned as a grid on a refreshable Braille display (e.g., F. H. Papenmeier, Schwerte, Germany), which is a tactile device used by the visually impaired to read computer text. Each pin can act as a valve and be shifted upward to push against channels contained in silicone rubber and completely shut the channel. Three sequential valves of this...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Computerized microfluidic cell culture using elastomeric channels and Braille displays

Zhu

Futai

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

373

312

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“…Phase-change phenomena such as gas generation through electrolysis (Bohm et al, 1999;Munyan et al, 2003) and decomposition of hydrogene-peroxide or AIBN (azobisisobutyronitrile) (Hong et al, 2003) are among various thermal actuation principles suitable for point-of-care testing devices. Moreover, melting of paraffin (Carlen and Mastrangelo, 2002), utilizing its relative volume change has been used as a phase-change microfluidic actuator as well as the thermal expansion of a gas as a pure thermopneumatic actuator (Yang et al, 1998;Cooney and Towe, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A disposable lab-on-a-chip platform with embedded fluid actuators for active nanoliter liquid handling

Samel

Nock

Russom

et al. 2006

Biomed Microdevices

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In this work we present the development of a disposable liquid handling lab-on-a-chip (LOC) platform with embedded actuators for applications in analytical chemistry. The proposed platform for nanoliter liquid handling is based on a thermally responsive silicone elastomer composite, consisting of PDMS and expandable microspheres. In our LOC platform, we integrate active dosing, transportation and merging of nanoliter liquid volumes. The disposable platform successfully demonstrates precise sample volume control with smart microfluidic manipulation and on-chip active microfluidic components. It is entirely fabricated from low-cost materials using wafer-level processing. Moreover, an enzymatic reaction and real-time detection was successfully conducted to exemplify its applicability as an LOC.

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“…In many solutions liquid volume dispensing is based on phase-change phenomena. Such include chemical decomposition of AIBN (azobis-isobutyronitrile) caused by heating [2], and gas generation through electrolysis [3,4]. Since a compressible gas is generated, these techniques are suitable for propelling liquid samples where no large counter pressure is encountered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A compact, low-cost microliter-range liquid dispenser based on expandable microspheres

Roxhed¹,

Rydholm²,

Samel³

et al. 2006

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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This work presents a new low-cost liquid dispenser for the dispensing of microliters to milliliter volumes. The dispensing mechanism is based on a thermal actuator where highly expandable microspheres expand into a liquid reservoir consequently displacing any stored liquid. All device components are made out of low-cost materials and the fabrication process has the potential for high volume batch manufacturing. The device utilizes the property of the expandable microspheres to form a heat insulating layer between the heat source and the delivered liquid. Moreover, it does not require any feed back or complicated flow metering. The device was successfully tested showing a mean dispensed volume of 101 µl with a standard deviation of 3.2% and with a maximum temperature of 59• C in the liquid during actuation. It was shown that the dispenser is strong enough to deliver against counter pressures as high as 75 kPa. The device can also function as a low flow rate dispenser as demonstrated in a microfluidic dye laser application. The flow rate can be controlled between 1 µl h −1 and 2400 µl h −1 by adjusting the actuation power.

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Electrically actuated, pressure-driven microfluidic pumps

Cited by 45 publications

References 23 publications

Computerized microfluidic cell culture using elastomeric channels and Braille displays

Computerized microfluidic cell culture using elastomeric channels and Braille displays

A disposable lab-on-a-chip platform with embedded fluid actuators for active nanoliter liquid handling

A compact, low-cost microliter-range liquid dispenser based on expandable microspheres

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