Engineering of MEMS-based microfluidic devices for individualised biomedical applications

Individualised medicine, which aims to comprehensively optimise diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for individual patients, has been greatly advanced by the recent development of novel devices based on micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology. This dissertation presents two approaches that make use of microfluidics & MEMS technology for design, fabricate and test lab-on-a-chip devices intended to provide individualised medicine. The first approach is an implantable drug delivery device for localized administration of chemotherapy. The device enables the efficient and controllable delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs to tumors to enable the reduction of side effects during treatment. The device was tested using cancer cells and animal models to evaluate its reliability and safety for clinical use. In the second approach, we developed two prototypes of lab-on-a-chip platform for cancer drug screening and testing. Its low cost, ease of use and flexibility were designed to meet the requirements of individualised medicine. Using this platform, we demonstrated drug testing on cultured cells and multicellular spheroids to investigate novel cancer drugs.DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EEE