3D printed microfluidic ‘lab on chip’ breakthrough

Technology News | August 16, 2017

By Rich Pell

LEDlighting Materials & processes Sensing / Conditioning Test and Measurement Medical Electronics Electromechanical Optoelectronics

Microfluidic devices, which manipulate and control fluids, are capable of sorting out disease biomarkers, cells, and other small structures in samples like blood by using microscopic channels incorporated into the devices. While such devices have been 3D printed before, none have been done on this scale, say the researchers.

The researchers used a custom-built high-resolution 3D printer and a new, specifically designed, low-cost, custom resin to create a microfluidic device small enough to be effective at a scale much less than 100 micrometers. This, they say, is a major breakthrough that promises the ability to mass-produce the medical diagnostic devices cheaply.

“Others have 3D-printed fluidic channels, but they haven’t been able to make them small enough for microfluidics,” says Greg Nordin, a BYU electrical engineering professor. “So we decided to make our own 3D printer and research a resin that could do it.”

The researchers’ 3D printer uses a 385-nm LED, which, they say, dramatically increases the available selection of UV absorbers for resin formulation compared to 3D printers using 405-nm LEDs. The resulting 3D-printed labs on a chip have flow channel cross sections as small as 18 micrometers by 20 micrometers – much smaller than previous such efforts, which failed to achieve success smaller than 100 micrometers.

The new approach is able to create a device in 30 minutes and doesn’t require the use of clean rooms. The researchers hope it will challenge traditional methods of microfluidic prototyping and development and “start a revolution” in how microfluidic devices are fabricated.

“It’s not just a little step; it’s a huge leap from one size regime to a previously inaccessible size regime for 3D printing,” says Adam Woolley, a BYU chemistry professor. “It opens up a lot of doors for making microfluidics more easily and inexpensively.”

For more, see “Custom 3D printer and resin for 18 µm × 20 µm microfluidic flow channels .”