An innovative method for the production of microfluidic chips integrating protein spots is described. The technology, called “Print-n-Shrink”, is based on the screen-printing of a microfluidic design (using a dielectric ink) onto Polyshrink™ polystyrene sheets. The initial print which has a minimum size of 15 µm (height) × 230 µm (width) is thermally treated (30 seconds, 163 °C) to shrink and generate features of 85 µm (height) × 100 µm (width). Concomitantly, proteins such as monoclonal antibodies or cellular adhesion proteins are spotted onto the Polyshrink™ sheets and shrunk together with the microfluidic design, creating a complete biochip integrating both complex microfluidic designs and protein spots for bioanalytical applications.
