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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 12: Poster 2
BP 12.47: Poster
Dienstag, 6. September 2022, 17:30–19:30, P4
Adaptive microfluidics using irreversibly responsive hydrogels — •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, Germany — 4Physics Department, University of Göttingen, Göttingen — 5Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen
Microfluidic devices have triggered a technological revolution in the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology. Integrated modular microfluidic devices allow for high throughput assays while making them more precise by eliminating human-induced errors. The fabrication process, however, introduces inhomogeneities which limit the efficiency and the precision of the produced devices. Here, we present a novel bio-inspired approach to designing adaptable microfluidic devices that can adapt the sizes of their channels using local feedback mechanisms for uniform flow. We test our approach by fabricating a random porous media using Matrix-Metalloproteinase(MMP)-degradable poly(ethylene glycol)-norbornene hydrogel and measure how the flow rate distribution changes by using Particle Image Velocimetry technique. As the device is perfused with an MMP-enzyme, the degradation of the hydrogel is coupled to the flow. We investigate how this coupling could result in a uniform flow. Our method could be used to eliminate inhomogeneities introduced during the fabricating processes to produce spatially homogeneous microfluidic devices.