Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 12: Poster 2
BP 12.46: Poster
Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 17:30–19:30, P4
Adaptive microfluidics using hydrogels with irreversible response — •Onurcan Bektas1,2,3,4, Charlott Leu3, Joachim Rädler1,3, and Karen Alim1,2,5 — 1Max Planck School Matter to Life, Germany — 2Physics Department and CPA, Technische Universität München — 3Faculty of Physics and and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany — 4Physics Department, University of Göttingen, Göttingen — 5Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen
Microfluidic devices have triggered technological revolutions in biology and separation technology. Their increased surface-to-volume ratio shortens reaction times, and make reactions more accurate and effective in an automated fashion, thus reducing error rates and allowing for highthroughput assays. However, fabricating multifunctional devices with integrated modules requires complicated control systems and is by far from being trivial. Here we present a novel bio-inspired approach to design adaptable microfluidic devices that can adapt the sizes of its channels using local feedback mechanisms for uniform flow. We fabricate a random porous media using an hydrogel made of Poly(ethylene glycol)-norbornene backbone and MMP-degradable cross-linker. When perfused with MMP-1 enzyme, the boundaries of the channels are cleaved such that the size of the channels and the flow are coupled. We investigate how the feedback mechanism between the flow and the channel size allows the network to optimise the flow rate distribution. Our methodology will lay the foundation for designing microfluidic devices that are adaptive to biological activity.