3D Printing of Monolithic Capillarity-Driven Microfluidic Devices for Diagnostics.

Rapid diagnostic testing at the site of the patient is essential when a fully equipped laboratory is not accessible. To maximize the impact of this approach, low-cost, disposable tests that require minimal user-interference and external equipment are desired. Fluid transport by capillary wicking removes the need for bulky ancillary equipment to actuate and control fluid flow.

Correction: 4D synchrotron microtomography and pore-network modelling for direct in situ capillary flow visualization in 3D printed microfluidic channels.

Correction for '4D synchrotron microtomography and pore-network modelling for direct in situ capillary flow visualization in 3D printed microfluidic channels' by Agnese Piovesan et al., Lab Chip, 2020, 20, 2403-2411, DOI: .

4D synchrotron microtomography and pore-network modelling for direct in situ capillary flow visualization in 3D printed microfluidic channels.

Powder-based 3D printing was employed to produce porous, capillarity-based devices suitable for passive microfluidics. Capillary imbibition in such devices was visualized in situ through dynamic synchrotron X-ray microtomography performed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) with sub-second time resolution. The obtained reconstructed images were segmented to observe imbibition dynamics, as well as to compute the system effective contact angle and to generate a pore-network to model capillary imbibition.

Pore network model for permeability characterization of three-dimensionally-printed porous materials for passive microfluidics.

Stand-alone and portable lab-on-chips (LOC) can be obtained by exploiting capillary flow in porous media. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) platforms obtained through powder-based three-dimensional (3D) printing are appropriate for capillarity-driven LOCs. However, fluid flow in such platforms needs to be characterized well.

3D printing in chemical engineering and catalytic technology: structured catalysts, mixers and reactors.

Computer-aided fabrication technologies combined with simulation and data processing approaches are changing our way of manufacturing and designing functional objects. Also in the field of catalytic technology and chemical engineering the impact of additive manufacturing, also referred to as 3D printing, is steadily increasing thanks to a rapidly decreasing equipment threshold. Although still in an early stage, the rapid and seamless transition between digital data and physical objects enabled by these fabrication tools will benefit both research and manufacture of reactors and structured catalysts.

Cdk2 silencing via a DNA/PCL electrospun scaffold suppresses proliferation and increases death of breast cancer cells.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a promising approach for cancer treatment. Site specific and controlled delivery of RNAi could be beneficial to the patient, while at the same time reducing undesirable off-target side effects. We utilized electrospinning to generate a biodegradable scaffold capable of incorporating and delivering a bioactive plasmid encoding for short hairpin (sh) RNA against the cell cycle specific protein, Cdk2.