Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Generation of Tissue Spheroids via a 3D Printed Stamp-Like Device
Published on: October 6, 2022
FDM 3D Printing of High-Pressure, Heat-Resistant, Transparent Microfluidic Devices
Valentin Romanov, Raheel Samuel, Marzieh Chaharlang
1Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics , University of California, San Francisco , San Francisco , California 94158 , United States.
Abstract:
Transparent surfaces within microfluidic devices are essential for accurate quantification of chemical, biological, and mechanical interactions. Here, we report how to create low-cost, rapid 3D-printed microfluidic devices that are optically free from artifacts and have transparent surfaces suitable for visualizing a variety of fluid phenomenon. The methodology described here can be used for creating high-pressure microfluidic systems (significantly higher than PDMS-glass bonding). We develop methods for annealing Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) microfluidic devices demonstrating heat resistance typically not achievable with other plastic materials. We show DNA melting and subsequent fluorescent imaging analysis, opening the door to other high-temperature applications. The FDM techniques demonstrated here allow for fabrication of microfluidic devices for precise visualization of interfacial dynamics, whether mixing between two laminar streams or droplet tracking. In addition to these characterizations, we include a printer troubleshooting guide and printing recipes for device fabrication to facilitate FDM printing for microfluidic device development.
Related Concept Videos
Specific Heat
For example, increasing the temperature of one gram of water by 1°C requires one calorie of heat energy and can be written as 1 cal/g-°C, or...
Quantifying Heat
Responses to Heat and Cold Stress
Heat Flow and Specific Heat
Vapor Pressure
Heating and Cooling Curves
For instance, the addition of heat raises the temperature of a solid; the amount of heat absorbed depends on the heat capacity of the solid (q = mcsolidΔT). According to thermochemistry, the relation between the amount of heat absorbed or released by a substance, q, and its...

