THESIS
2013
xvii, 147 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Microfluidic technologies are emerging as powerful tools for biological study
including tissue, single cell or even single molecule level analysis in parallel. A small
volume reaction and delivery not only enhances the speed of analyses but also enables
the high throughput in automation form. Regarding of the superior of microfluidics
applied in biological study, my PhD work focus on developing new microfluidic
devices to study cell mechanics, subcellular level bio-detection, and new methods to
fabricate 2D or 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering, which can be applied in biological
study.
In this thesis, we first develop a Teflon-base lithography method, which enables
the fabrication of either organic or inorganic materials in sub-micron level. We adopt
the Teflon-based lithog...[
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Microfluidic technologies are emerging as powerful tools for biological study
including tissue, single cell or even single molecule level analysis in parallel. A small
volume reaction and delivery not only enhances the speed of analyses but also enables
the high throughput in automation form. Regarding of the superior of microfluidics
applied in biological study, my PhD work focus on developing new microfluidic
devices to study cell mechanics, subcellular level bio-detection, and new methods to
fabricate 2D or 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering, which can be applied in biological
study.
In this thesis, we first develop a Teflon-base lithography method, which enables
the fabrication of either organic or inorganic materials in sub-micron level. We adopt
the Teflon-based lithography method to pattern microgrooves of drug-laden poly
(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), which can be used for engineered tendon-repair
therapeutics. Furthermore, we employ one Teflon series polymer-perfluoropolyether (PFPE) to encapsulate single-cells in each PFPE microcapsules. These PFPE
microspheres can serve as robust and inert nanoliter reactors for single-cell analysis.
In the second part, we develop a convenient miniaturized 3D platform which
could allow high-throughput analysis of the effects of mechanical strain. We
demonstrate the capability of this array of microlenses as a general platform for
studying the influence of mechanical strain on adherent cells by using NIH 3T3
fibroblasts and HeLa cells as our models.
In the last part, we explore novel methods to fabricate complex 3D
microstructures. We first demonstrate one-step direct molding method to fabricate 3D
microstructure using the cracked PDMS master. We also present a direct-writing
strategy to fabricate 1D and 3D vascular–like microchannels with micropatterned
surface in hydrogels. Our methods for fabricating complex 3D microstructures may
find application in tissue engineering.
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