Issue 2, 2019

Flow focusing through gels as a tool to generate 3D concentration profiles in hydrogel-filled microfluidic chips

Abstract

Laminar flow patterning is an iconic microfluidic technology used to deliver chemicals to specific regions on a two-dimensional surface with high spatial fidelity. Here we present a novel extension of this technology using Darcy flow within a three-dimensional (3D) hydrogel. Our test device is a simple 3-inlet microfluidic channel, totally filled with collagen, a cured biological hydrogel, where the concentration profiles of solutes are manipulated via the inlet pressures. This method allows solutes to be delivered with 50 micron accuracy within the gel, as we evidence by controlling concentration profiles of 40 kDa and 1 kDa fluorescent polysaccharide dyes. Furthermore, we design and test a 3D-printed version of our device with an extra two inlets for control of the vertical position of the concentration profile, demonstrating that this method is easily extensible to control of the concentration profile in 3D.

Graphical abstract: Flow focusing through gels as a tool to generate 3D concentration profiles in hydrogel-filled microfluidic chips

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
23 10 2018
Accepted
09 11 2018
First published
14 12 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Lab Chip, 2019,19, 206-213

Flow focusing through gels as a tool to generate 3D concentration profiles in hydrogel-filled microfluidic chips

J. Loessberg-Zahl, A. D. van der Meer, A. van den Berg and J. C. T. Eijkel, Lab Chip, 2019, 19, 206 DOI: 10.1039/C8LC01140K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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