Combined Femtosecond Laser Glass Microprocessing for Liver-on-Chip Device Fabrication

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Lab-on-chip (LOC) devices offer significant potential for biomedical applications, including organ-on-chip (OOC) development.
• Current fabrication methods like molding present challenges for prototyping OOC devices.
• There is a need for efficient prototyping techniques for OOC technology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and demonstrate a femtosecond laser microprocessing technique for prototyping organ-on-chip devices.
• To fabricate a liver-on-chip device using femtosecond laser-based methods.
• To assess the viability and proliferation of liver cancer cells within the fabricated chip.

Main Methods:

• Utilized femtosecond laser microprocessing, specifically selective laser etching (SLE) and laser welding.
• Fabricated liver-on-chip devices from glass substrates.
• Cultured and tested HepG2(GS) liver cancer cells within the manufactured LOC device.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated functional liver-on-chip devices using femtosecond laser techniques.
• Demonstrated the capability of the fabricated chip to support liver cancer cell proliferation.
• Validated the potential of laser-based microfabrication for OOC development.

Conclusions:

• Femtosecond laser microprocessing is a viable and efficient technique for prototyping organ-on-chip devices.
• The developed liver-on-chip device supports cell proliferation, indicating its suitability for further research.
• This approach advances OOC technology for disease modeling and preclinical drug testing.