Fabrication Protocol for Thermoplastic Microfluidic Devices: Nanoliter Volume Bioreactors for Cell Culturing.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Materials Science
• Bioengineering

Background:

• Microfluidic devices are essential for controlling biological reactions at the microscale.
• Fabricating these devices often requires specialized equipment and materials.
• Thermoplastic polymers offer advantages for microfluidic device production.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a step-by-step fabrication method for thermoplastic microbioreactors.
• To demonstrate the use of easily procurable laboratory equipment.
• To enable real-time cellular analysis using microfluidic devices.

Main Methods:

• Material selection (COP), device design (AutoCAD, L-edit), and master mold preparation (photolithography, electrochemical etching).
• Fabrication of electrodes using thermal evaporation and etching.
• Hot embossing and thermo-compression bonding for device assembly.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of thermoplastic microbioreactors with and without electrodes.
• Integration of microfluidic devices with microscopy for real-time data acquisition.
• Analysis of cell dimensions and fluorescence intensity using image processing.

Conclusions:

• A cost-effective and accessible method for fabricating thermoplastic microbioreactors is presented.
• The developed devices facilitate real-time monitoring of cellular processes.
• This approach bridges macro-scale experimentation with micro-scale biological analysis.