Microfluidic Devices for Bioanalytical Applications

161 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) based microfluidic devices have a wide range of applications in chemistry, biology, environmental science and drug delivery. PDMS devices, fabricated using soft lithography were utilized in fabrication and optimization of biotin-avidin protein bioassay. In order to optimize the performance of protein bioassay, various substrates and protein blocking reagents have been tested. Silicon dioxide substrate with proper thickness provide a great option for build biotin-avidin bioassay on with fluorescence detection. The resist abilities of bovine serum albumin (BSA), methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)-succinimidyl propionate (PEG), poly(acrylamide-co-N-acryloxysuccinimide) (PAN) and further modified PAN were compared and analyzed on fluorescence images. Except fluorescence, secondary electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to quantify the microcontact printed protein arrays on gold surface. A mechanism for image formation is proposed and protein absorptions on both gold and self assembly monolayer are characterized quantitatively. A physical patterning method based on PDMS called decal transfer lithography is applied to fabricate the open channel patterns for biocompatible soft materials. Agarose gel and alginate gel are both patterned via this method. Atomic force microscope is used to character elastic moduli of both hydrogel surfaces including bulk and pattern surfaces. Three dimensional reconstructions of confocal images of those patterns is shown. Fibroblast cells are cultured on fibronectin immobilized gel surface to study cell attachment and growth.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD