Parylene-C Coating Protects Resin-3D-Printed Devices from Material Erosion and Prevents Cytotoxicity toward Primary Cells.

Resin 3D printing is attractive for the rapid fabrication of microscale cell culture devices, but common resin materials are unstable and cytotoxic under culture conditions. Strategies such as leaching or overcuring are insufficient to protect sensitive primary cells such as white blood cells. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of using a parylene C coating of commercially available clear resins to prevent cytotoxic leaching, degradation of microfluidic devices, and absorption of small molecules.

A Scalable, Modular Degasser for Passive In-Line Removal of Bubbles from Biomicrofluidic Devices.

Bubbles are a common cause of microfluidic malfunction, as they can perturb the fluid flow within the micro-sized features of a device. Since gas bubbles form easily within warm cell culture reagents, degassing is often necessary for biomicrofluidic systems. However, fabrication of a microscale degasser that can be used modularly with pre-existing chips may be cumbersome or challenging, especially for labs not equipped for traditional microfabrication, and current commercial options can be expensive.

Applied tutorial for the design and fabrication of biomicrofluidic devices by resin 3D printing.

Resin 3D printing, especially digital light processing (DLP) printing, is a promising rapid fabrication method for bio-microfluidic applications such as clinical tests, lab-on-a-chip devices, and sensor integrated devices. The benefits of 3D printing lead many to believe this fabrication method will accelerate the use of microfluidics, but there are a number of potential obstacles to overcome for bioanalytical labs to fully utilize this technology. For commercially available printing materials, this includes challenges in producing prints with the print resolution and mechanical stability required for a particular design, along with cytotoxic components within many photopolymerizing resins and low optical compatibility for imaging experiments.

Microscale impeller pump for recirculating flow in organs-on-chip and microreactors.

Fluid flow is an integral part of microfluidic and organ-on-chip technology, ideally providing biomimetic fluid, cell, and nutrient exchange as well as physiological or pathological shear stress. Currently, many of the pumps that actively perfuse fluid at biomimetic flow rates are incompatible with use inside cell culture incubators, require many tubing connections, or are too large to run many devices in a confined space. To address these issues, we developed a user-friendly impeller pump that uses a 3D-printed device and impeller to recirculate fluid and cells on-chip.