Towards Small Scale: Overview and Applications of Microfluidics in Biotechnology.

Thanks to recent and continuing technological innovations, modern microfluidic systems are increasingly offering researchers working across all fields of biotechnology exciting new possibilities (especially with respect to facilitating high throughput analysis, portability, and parallelization). The advantages offered by microfluidic devices-namely, the substantially lowered chemical and sample consumption they require, the increased energy and mass transfer they offer, and their comparatively small size-can potentially be leveraged in every sub-field of biotechnology. However, to date, most of the reported devices have been deployed in furtherance of healthcare, pharmaceutical, and/or industrial applications.

3D-printed autoclavable plant holders to facilitate large-scale protein production in plants.

The Australian tobacco plant is becoming increasingly popular as a platform for protein production and metabolic engineering. In this system, gene expression is achieved transiently by infiltrating plants with suspensions of carrying vectors with the target genes. To infiltrate larger numbers of plants, vacuum infiltration is the most efficient approach known, which is already used on industrial scale.

3D printing in biotechnology-An insight into miniaturized and microfluidic systems for applications from cell culture to bioanalytics.

Since its invention in the 1980s, 3D printing has evolved into a versatile technique for the additive manufacturing of diverse objects and tools, using various materials. The relative flexibility, straightforwardness, and ability to enable rapid prototyping are tremendous advantages offered by this technique compared to conventional methods for miniaturized and microfluidic systems fabrication (such as soft lithography). The development of 3D printers exhibiting high printer resolution has enabled the fabrication of accurate miniaturized and microfluidic systems-which have, in turn, substantially reduced both device sizes and required sample volumes.

3D Printed Microfluidic Spiral Separation Device for Continuous, Pulsation-Free and Controllable CHO Cell Retention.

The development of continuous bioprocesses-which require cell retention systems in order to enable longer cultivation durations-is a primary focus in the field of modern process development. The flow environment of microfluidic systems enables the granular manipulation of particles (to allow for greater focusing in specific channel regions), which in turn facilitates the development of small continuous cell separation systems. However, previously published systems did not allow for separation control.

3D printed microfluidic lab-on-a-chip device for fiber-based dual beam optical manipulation.

3D printing of microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices enables rapid prototyping of robust and complex structures. In this work, we designed and fabricated a 3D printed lab-on-a-chip device for fiber-based dual beam optical manipulation. The final 3D printed chip offers three key features, such as (1) an optimized fiber channel design for precise alignment of optical fibers, (2) an optically clear window to visualize the trapping region, and (3) a sample channel which facilitates hydrodynamic focusing of samples.

3D-printed microfluidics integrated with optical nanostructured porous aptasensors for protein detection.

Microfluidic integration of biosensors enables improved biosensing performance and sophisticated lab-on-a-chip platform design for numerous applications. While soft lithography and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidics are still considered the gold standard, 3D-printing has emerged as a promising fabrication alternative for microfluidic systems. Herein, a 3D-printed polyacrylate-based microfluidic platform is integrated for the first time with a label-free porous silicon (PSi)-based optical aptasensor via a facile bonding method.

Fabrication of Stiffness Gradients of GelMA Hydrogels Using a 3D Printed Micromixer.

Many properties in both healthy and pathological tissues are highly influenced by the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix. Stiffness gradient hydrogels are frequently used for exploring these complex relationships in mechanobiology. In this study, the fabrication of a simple, cost-efficient, and versatile system is reported for creation of stiffness gradients from photoactive hydrogels like gelatin-methacryloyl (GelMA).

Real-Time Live-Cell Imaging Technology Enables High-Throughput Screening to Verify in Vitro Biocompatibility of 3D Printed Materials.

With growing advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, the availability and diversity of printing materials has rapidly increased over the last years. 3D printing has quickly become a useful tool for biomedical and various laboratory applications, offering a tremendous potential for efficiently fabricating complex devices in a short period of time. However, there still remains a lack of information regarding the impact of printing materials and post-processing techniques on cell behavior.

3D Printed Microfluidic Mixers-A Comparative Study on Mixing Unit Performances.

One of the basic operations in microfluidic systems for biological and chemical applications is the rapid mixing of different fluids. However, flow profiles in microfluidic systems are laminar, which means molecular diffusion is the only mixing effect. Therefore, mixing structures are crucial to enable more efficient mixing in shorter times.