Fabrication of Lab-on-a-Chip Devices to Study the Forces Imparted by Growing Phytophthora Hyphae

In this chapter, we describe the design and manufacture of a Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) device suitable for measuring the μN forces exerted by tips of growing Phytophthora hyphae. LoC describes microfluidic devices, typically made of the polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), that are increasingly being used to answer fundamental questions in biological, chemical, physical, and medical research. These LoC devices enable the integration of several laboratory functions on small plastic devices that are quick to produce and easy to replicate. While we describe the design and manufacture of one particular device, the methods covered are applicable to any chip design, and such devices could be used to investigate many aspects of Phytophthora biology.