Microbioreactor designed for integration with piezoelectric transducers for cellular diagnostics
Journal
Microfluidics and Nanofluidics
Journal Volume
11
Journal Issue
4
Pages
459-468
Date Issued
2011
Author(s)
Abstract
This article reports a perfusion-based microbioreactor that can be integrated with a thin-film piezoelectric transducer array for rapid disease diagnosis, such as identifications of cancer cells and infection induced cell abnormality. By using the gap between suspended transducers as the high-aspect ratio barriers to establish high flow resistance into the culture chamber, we have verified that diffusion dominated the main transport mechanisms in the culture chamber. The fluid flow was successfully suppressed under 0.03, 0.3, and 3.0 μ/min volume flow rates, and a very low shear flow region was achieved on the transducer surfaces. This design offers minimal influences of mechanical forces on cellular detection and cells cultured on the surface of transducers. Finite element simulation showed that the shear stress on transducer surface could be maintained lower than milli-Pascal range. Detailed design, simulation results and experimental verifications of the microbioreactor are discussed. © Springer-Verlag 2011.
Type
journal article