Leti to drive microfluidics’ ISO standards
Microfluidics involves fluid-handling devices with internal dimensions in the range of micrometers up to a few millimeters. Often referred to as lab-on-a-chip, these portable systems integrate various laboratory functions on a single integrated processor. They are expected to boost point-of-care diagnosis in fields such as health care, and immediate, onsite environmental analysis and monitoring.
Nicolas Verplanck, Microfluidic project manager at Leti, has been appointed convenor of the European CEN/TC-332/WG7 and international ISO/TC48/WG3 (micro-process engineering) working groups and will write the microfluidics standards to speed commercialization of the emerging technology.
“Existing manufacturing processes for electronic devices that have been on the market for many years benefit from well-established standards for electronic components, and are easily integrated in the production process of major foundries,” Verplanck said.
“In addition to beginning formal discussions on standards for interoperability and other key considerations, our new association, MakeFluidics, is defining standardization protocols, processes and guidelines to fast-track development and adoption of microfluidic systems.”
“The standards from the MF Manufacturing project enabled us to develop a rapid proof of concept of fluidic test bench adapted to our customers’ needs,” added Vincent Tempelaere, CEO of Eveon.
It is anticipated that the international standardization of microfluidics design and manufacturing will increase the maturity of both functional and fabrication process aspects, seeing the emergence of novel interoperable functional modules thanks to novel hybrid integration processes.
The goal of MakeFluidics’ consortium partners is to improve device availability, reliability and accessibility, cutting production costs while speeding up time to market for microfluidic devices.
In addition to Verplanck, the microfluidics association’s steering committee includes Holger Becker from microfluidic Chipshop (Germany), Marko Blom from Micronit (Netherlands), Henne van Heeren from enablingMNT (Netherlands), Lionel Matthys from Fluigent (France), Darwin Reyes from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, USA), Alexios Tzannis from IMT (Switzerland) and Yu Zhou from Siemens Healthineers (U.S.)
MakeFluidics – www.makefluidics.com
Leti – www.leti-cea.com
Related articles:
Organ-on-chip platform for drug screening
Package-level 3D-printed chip cooler beats all air alternatives
Open-source microfluidic design: MIT opens online repository
Lego blocks inspire modular microfluidics
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
