Automated Dynamic Inlet Microfluidics (ADIM) system: cost-effective biaxial nanoliter droplet on demand generation platform and its application in agglutination assays.

The paper demonstrates an adaptation of a Prusa Mini+ 3D printer through the integration of 3D printed modules, creating a system capable of producing varied droplets from multiple Eppendorf tubes. Building upon our previous model, this system enhances calibration methodology enabling any fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer to produce mono-disperse droplets (coefficient of variance (CV%) <2% for train of 100 droplets) with 6900 assays per hour rate. The cost of the developed system is 85% lower than that of existing droplet generation solutions on the market, and 30% more economical than the previous iteration of the system.

Automated dynamic inlet microfluidics system: 3D printer adaptation for cost-effective, low volume, on-demand multi-analyte droplet generator.

The paper demonstrates an adaptation of a 3D printer (Prusa Mini+) with novel modules to develop a droplet generation system that generates combinatorial droplets from a standard 96 well plate. The calibration methodology developed would allow any fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer to generate monodisperse droplets (coefficient of variance (CV%) < 5%) from well plates or vials of any geometry. The system maintains precision across various volumes while maintaining a C.

Characteristics of Bow-Tie Antenna Structures for Semi-Insulating GaAs and InP Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters.

This work presents a study of photoconductive (PC) terahertz (THz) emitters based upon varied bow-tie (BT) antenna structures on the semi-insulating (SI) forms of GaAs and InP. The BT antennas have electrodes in the form of a Sharp BT, a Broad BT, an Asymmetric BT, a Blunted BT, and a Doubled BT. The study explores the main features of PC THz emitters for spectroscopic studies and sensors application in terms of THz field amplitude and spectral bandwidth.

Photoconductive terahertz generation in semi-insulating GaAs and InP under the extremes of bias field and pump fluence.

This Letter analyzes photoconductive (PC) terahertz (THz) emitters based on the semi-insulating (SI) forms of GaAs and InP. The dependencies of the emitters are studied under the extremes of the bias field and pump fluence to reveal the underlying physics of charge carrier photoexcitation, transport, and emission. The bias field dependence shows that SI-GaAs PC THz emitters are preferentially subject to space-charge-limited current, under the influence of trap states, while SI-InP PC THz emitters are preferentially subject to sustained current, due to a prolonged charge carrier lifetime and the ensuing joule heating.

Developments in the integration and application of terahertz spectroscopy with microfluidics.

This work presents an overview of terahertz (THz) spectroscopy with a focus on its implementation within microfluidic platforms. Such platforms are of great interest because they can enable label-free and reagent-free sensing. However, they must be implemented with thought towards the incorporated materials and structures as they can greatly impact the bandwidth, frequency resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and dynamic range of the measurements.

Characterization and Integration of Terahertz Technology within Microfluidic Platforms.

In this work, the prospects of integrating terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) within polymer-based microfluidic platforms are investigated. The work considers platforms based upon the polar polymers polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and the nonpolar polymers fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), polystyrene (PS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The THz absorption coefficients for these polymers are measured.

High-Throughput Incubation and Quantification of Agglutination Assays in a Microfluidic System.

In this paper, we present a two-phase microfluidic system capable of incubating and quantifying microbead-based agglutination assays. The microfluidic system is based on a simple fabrication solution, which requires only laboratory tubing filled with carrier oil, driven by negative pressure using a syringe pump. We provide a user-friendly interface, in which a pipette is used to insert single droplets of a 1.

On-Chip Magnetic Bead Manipulation and Detection Using a Magnetoresistive Sensor-Based Micro-Chip: Design Considerations and Experimental Characterization.

The remarkable advantages micro-chip platforms offer over cumbersome, time-consuming equipment currently in use for bio-analysis are well documented. In this research, a micro-chip that includes a unique magnetic actuator (MA) for the manipulation of superparamagnetic beads (SPBs), and a magnetoresistive sensor for the detection of SPBs is presented. A design methodology, which takes into account the magnetic volume of SPBs, diffusion and heat transfer phenomena, is presented with the aid of numerical analysis to optimize the parameters of the MA.

Comparison of capacitive and radio frequency resonator sensors for monitoring parallelized droplet microfluidic production.

Scaled-up production of microfluidic droplets, through the parallelization of hundreds of droplet generators, has received a lot of attention to bring novel multiphase microfluidics research to industrial applications. However, apart from droplet generation, other significant challenges relevant to this goal have never been discussed. Examples include monitoring systems, high-throughput processing of droplets and quality control procedures among others.

A remotely operated drug delivery system with an electrolytic pump and a thermo-responsive valve.

Implantable drug delivery devices are becoming attractive due to their abilities of targeted and controlled dose release. Currently, two important issues are functional lifetime and non-controlled drug diffusion. In this work, we present a drug delivery device combining an electrolytic pump and a thermo-responsive valve, which are both remotely controlled by an electromagnetic field (40.

A cyclically actuated electrolytic drug delivery device.

This work, focusing on an implantable drug delivery system, presents the first prototype electrolytic pump that combines a catalytic reformer and a cyclically actuated mode. These features improve the release performance and extend the lifetime of the device. Using our platinum (Pt)-coated carbon fiber mesh that acts as a catalytic reforming element, the cyclical mode is improved because the faster recombination rate allows for a shorter cycling time for drug delivery.

RoboSCell: an automated single cell arraying and analysis instrument.

Single cell research has the potential to revolutionize experimental methods in biomedical sciences and contribute to clinical practices. Recent studies suggest analysis of single cells reveals novel features of intracellular processes, cell-to-cell interactions and cell structure. The methods of single cell analysis require mechanical resolution and accuracy that is not possible using conventional techniques.

A novel permalloy based magnetic single cell micro array.

Devices capable of automatically aligning cells onto geometrical arrays are of great interest to biomedical researchers. Such devices can facilitate the study of numerous cells while the cells remain physically separated from one another. In this way, cell arrays reduce cell-to-cell interactions while the cells are all subjected to common stimuli, which allows individual cell behaviour to be revealed.