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Lab on a Chip

Microfluidic & nanofluidic technologies for chemistry, physics, biology, and bioengineering




Paper

Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 1365 - 1373, DOI: 10.1039/b805137b


Microfluidic assembly blocks

Minsoung Rhee and Mark A. Burns


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.

Graphical abstract image for this article  (ID: b805137b)