Microfluidic assembly blocks

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Microfluidic assembly blocks†

Minsoung Rhee^ab and Mark A. Burns*^ac

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemical Engineering, the University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward St. 3074 H.H. Dow Building, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

^b Bioinformatics Program, the University of Michigan Medical School 2017 Palmer Commons, 100 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

^c Department of Biomedical Engineering, the University of Michigan 2200 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Abstract

An assembly approach for microdevice construction using prefabricated microfluidic components is presented. Although microfluidic systems are convenient platforms for biological assays, their use in the life sciences is still limited mainly due to the high-level fabrication expertise required for construction. This approach involves prefabrication of individual microfluidic assembly blocks (MABs) in PDMS that can be readily assembled to form microfluidic systems. Non-expert users can assemble the blocks on glass slides to build their devices in minutes without any fabrication steps. In this paper, we describe the construction and assembly of the devices using the MAB methodology, and demonstrate common microfluidic applications including laminar flow development, valve control, and cell culture.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/B805137B
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 27 Mar 2008
Accepted: 04 Jun 2008
First published: 04 Jul 2008

Download Citation

Lab Chip, 2008,8, 1365-1373

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