Patent Application: US-201214005347-A

Abstract:
a microfluidic system , particularly suited as a cell culture system , is provided having a single monolithic biocompatible substrate with both a surface having an ordered array of nano - scale elements required for plasmonic response monitoring and a network of microchannels for precisely controlling cellular environment . the system has the additional advantages of low - volume consumption , rapid low - cost fabrication of molds with easily interchangeable microfluidic channel layouts , amenability to mass production , and in situ label - free real - time detection of cellular response , viability , behavior and biomolecular binding using plasmonic techniques . a ratio of greater than 0 . 2 between the cross - sectional dimension and the spacing distance of the nano - scale elements is useful for plasmonic response monitoring . a process for producing such a system involves fabrication of a master mold containing the nano - scale elements etched into a hard substrate , and the micro - scale and meso - scale features , such as channels and chambers , provided in a soft membrane bonded to the hard substrate . a stamp may be created by setting a settable liquid polymer or metal placed in the master mold and then the features of the intended device transferred to a polymeric substrate using the stamp .

Description:
process for fabricating a monolithic integrated nanoplasmonic microfluidic cell culture system a monolithic integrated nanoplasmonic microfluidic cell culture system of the present invention may be produced generally as shown in fig1 , which illustrates the process showing a single cell chamber and none of the channels , conduits , valves or other microfluidic features for clarity . a soft thermoplastic elastomer film is hot - embossed to form micro - scale and meso - scale features ( microchannels , conduits , chambers , etc .) in tpe membrane 10 including through - hole 11 . this is performed at an applied pressure ranging from 5 kn to 15 kn , for 5 - 30 min , at a temperature in a range of from 100 ° c . to 160 ° c ., depending on the desired features . hard zeonor ™ substrate 12 is patterned by hot - embossing at an applied pressure of 10 kn to 20 kn for 10 - 30 min at a temperature ranging from 140 ° c . to 170 ° c . depending on the specific zeonor ™ grade to form a regular array of nano - scale grating elements 13 . with the micro - scale and meso - scale features facing up , the tpe membrane is placed on the zeonor ™ substrate such that the through - hole is aligned with the grating elements . the membrane is then reversibly bonded to the zeonor ™ substrate to seal the membrane around the through - hole against the zeonor ™ substrate to form master mold 14 at room temperature . photocurable polymer 15 is poured into the through - hole and onto the membrane to cover the membrane and the micro - scale and meso - scale features thereon . glass or metal backing plate 16 is placed over top of the photocurable polymer and the photocurable polymer is then exposed to uv radiation 17 to cure the polymer . when a metal backing plate is used , the assembly is flipped upside down to uv cure the polymer . after curing , master mold 14 and glass ( or metal ) plate 16 are removed to provide working stamp 18 having reliefs 19 comprising a reverse image of the micro - scale and meso - scale features and the regular array of nano - scale grating elements . the working stamp is then used to hot - emboss “ hard or soft ” thermoplastic polymer substrate 20 ( e . g . zeonor ™, pmma or a thermoplastic elastomer such as cl - 30 , mediprene ™, etc .) to provide , in one step , a monolithic microfluidic cell culture system having micro - scale and meso - scale features 21 and regular array of nano - scale grating elements 22 therein . microfluidic cell culture systems produced in this manner may comprise any number of cell culture chambers , microchannels , conduits , valves , etc . more detailed schematic drawings of one cell culture chamber in the monolithic integrated nanoplasmonic microfluidic cell culture system produced by this process are shown in fig2 . referring to fig2 a to 2 d , flow layer 40 of the cell culture system comprises cell loading channels 41 , perfusion channels 42 , perfusion conduits 43 and culture chambers 44 , which have different dimensions dictated by the specific application . as shown in fig2 a , 2 b and 2 d , the bottom of the cell culture chambers may be patterned with an ordered array of nanostructures 45 , in this case a nanograting . alternatively , as shown in fig2 c , the bottom of the cell culture chamber may have integrated micropillars 46 having nanostructures 47 patterned thereon . as shown in fig2 e to 2 f , such nanostructured micropillars can provide two - levels of topographical ( spatial and mechanical ) cues on the micro - and nano - scale for controlling attachment / motion ( cell isolation or confinement ) of cells 48 , while retaining plasmonic detection capability for the study of cell behavior and interactions . further , as shown in fig2 d , flow layer 40 can be fabricated to include micro - optic elements , such as microlens 49 of nanograting 45 , for enhanced light coupling or improved light collection efficiency , depending on the particular interrogation scheme ( e . g . transmission or reflection spr , lspr or sers ). control layer 50 and thin membrane 51 may be placed on top of flow layer 40 to control fluid flow in the channels and conduits of the microfluidic cell culture system . control layer 50 contains a network of channels used to supply pressure on thin membrane 51 sandwiched between the control layer and the flow layer in order to close the valves and control fluid flow . while for certain application , the use of valves for fluidic management might not be necessary , for high - level microfluidic integration of the system it is of great importance in order to allow two - dimensional addressing of each individual chamber . the monolithic integration of nanostructures with the flow layer allows the use of the control layer for the integration of valves which would otherwise be impossible by simply assembling a bottom nanostructured spr layer with a top microfluidic structure . referring to fig3 , sample scanning electron microscope ( sem ) micrographs of possible nanostructures and their monolithic integration within microfluidic chambers of the microfluidic cell culture system are shown . in fig3 a , from left to right are shown nanoholes , nanopillars , nanoposts and nanogratings . in each of fig3 b and 3 c from left to right are shown successive magnifications of sem micrographs of monolithic three - dimensional microstructures and nanostructures fabricated using the present method , where the sem on the left shows the microstructures , the sem on the right shows the nanostructures in a microstructure and the sem in the middle has a magnification in between the left and right . in 3 b and 3 c , the sem in the middle has a magnification 2 . 5 × greater than the sem on the left , and the sem on the right has a magnification 20 × greater than the sem in the middle . the field of view for the sem on the left is 500 μm . use of a monolithic integrated nanoplasmonic microfluidic cell culture system in plasmonic detection in operation a monolithic integrated nanoplasmonic microfluidic cell culture system of the present invention employs pressure - driven flow to transport cells in suspension from a plurality of reservoirs through a plurality of cell - loading channels to a plurality of nanostructured cell culture chambers by closing valves of the perfusion channels and opening valves on the cell - loading channels . a plurality of cell - lines are loaded using a plurality of different reservoirs . following initial cell attachment on the bottom of the nanostructured chambers , the valves on the cell - loading channels are closed , and fresh media is continuously injected in each of the perfusion channels . multiple high resistance perfusion conduits ensure equal distribution of the media within the chamber while minimizing the shear - stress exerted on the cells . once the cell culture chambers are loaded with cells , plasmonic resonance readings are taken using optical detection methods of reflection or transmission - mode surface plasmon resonance , localized surface plasmon resonance or surface enhanced raman spectroscopy . fig4 illustrates the configuration of microfluidic device 60 in relation to light source 62 and detector 64 of the optical detection method . with these detection methods , cell - substrate interaction can be monitored in situ , in real - time and without any labels by analyzing the shift in the plasmonic peaks of the nanostructured substrate response . resulting shifts in plasmonic peaks for surface plasmon resonance ( spr ) and localized surface plasmon resonance ( lspr ) or surface enhanced raman spectroscopy ( sers ) are illustrated at the left and right , respectively , in fig4 . additionally , the present design allows monitoring of cellular response due to different bio - chemical cues which can be supplemented in the perfusion media . furthermore , prior to cell loading , using the same microchannels , the bottom of the chambers can be functionalized by flowing different chemicals and / or biological species for monitoring of cell - substrate interactions or for the detection of biochemical targets excreted or extracted from the cell . the contents of the entirety of each of which are incorporated by this reference . balasundaram g , webster t j . 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