Droplet-based microfluidic systems are an expansion of the lab on a chip concept toward flexible, reconfigurable setups based on the modification and analysis of individual droplets. Superhydrophobic surfaces are one suitable candidate for the realization of droplet-based microfluidic systems as the high mobility of aqueous liquids on such surfaces offers possibilities to use novel or more efficient approaches to droplet movement. Here, copper-based superhydrophobic surfaces were produced either by the etching of polycrystalline copper samples along the grain boundaries using etchants common in the microelectronics industry, by electrodeposition of copper films with subsequent nanowire decoration based on thermal oxidization, or by a combination of both. The surfaces could be easily hydrophobized with thiol-modified fluorocarbons, after which the produced surfaces showed a water contact angle as high as 171 degrees +/- 2 degrees . As copper was chosen as the base material, established patterning techniques adopted from printed circuit board fabrication could be used to fabricate macrostructures on the surfaces with the intention to confine the droplets and, thus, to reduce the system's sensitivity to tilting and vibrations. A simple droplet-based microfluidic chip with inlets, outlets, sample storage, and mixing areas was produced. Wire guidance, a relatively new actuation method applicable to aqueous liquids on superhydrophobic surfaces, was applied to move the droplets.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nn900607p | DOI Listing |
Adv Exp Med Biol
January 2025
METU MEMS Center, Ankara, Turkey.
Male factor accounts for 30-50% of infertility cases and may occur due to congenital anomalies or acquired disorders. In such infertility cases where a limited number of mature sperm is produced, a solution is offered to patients with ART applications; however, these methods are inadequate in patients with germ cell aplasia due to damaged microenvironment. Since monolayer cell culture and static culture conditions do not provide the physical conditions of the 3D microenvironment, they have a limited effect on ensuring the execution of in vitro spermatogenesis properly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Mater
January 2025
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Cells use 'active' energy-consuming motor and filament protein networks to control micrometre-scale transport and fluid flows. Biological active materials could be used in dynamically programmable devices that achieve spatial and temporal resolution that exceeds current microfluidic technologies. However, reconstituted motor-microtubule systems generate chaotic flows and cannot be directly harnessed for engineering applications.
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March 2025
Holosensor Medical Technology Ltd, Room 12, No. 1798, Zhonghuayuan West Road, Yushan Town, Suzhou, 215000, China; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address:
Rapid and sensitive protein detection methods are of benefit to clinical diagnosis, pathological mechanism research, and infection prevention. However, routine protein detection technologies, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot, suffer from low sensitivity, poor quantification and labourious operation. Herein, we developed a fully automated protein analysis system to conduct fast protein quantification at the single molecular level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Chem
January 2025
Nanophotonic Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
Droplet-based microfluidics is a powerful tool for high-throughput analysis of liquid samples with significant applications in biomedicine and biochemistry. Nevertheless, extracting content-rich information from single picolitre-sized droplets at high throughputs remains challenging due to the weak signals associated with these small volumes. Overcoming this limitation would be transformative for fields that rely on high-throughput screening, enabling broader multiparametric analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Vitro Model
December 2024
Laboratório de Biologia Básica de Células-Tronco, FIOCRUZ, Rua Professor Algacyr Munhoz Mader, 3775, Instituto Carlos Chagas, Curitiba, Paraná PR 81350-010 Brazil.
Obesity is associated with several comorbidities that cause high mortality rates worldwide. Thus, the study of adipose tissue (AT) has become a target of high interest because of its crucial contribution to many metabolic diseases and metabolizing potential. However, many AT-related physiological, pathophysiological, and toxicological mechanisms in humans are still poorly understood, mainly due to the use of non-human animal models.
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