17 - 3D printed microfluidic devices and applications

Abstract

Microfluidic technology has been attractive and widely employed for solving problems in biomedical research field. However, sophisticated microfabrication process limited its utility and access from biologists and physicians who are unfamiliar with microfabrication, in turn, significantly hindered the biomedical discovery. Since past 5years, 3D printing technology has been introduced for fabricating microfluidic devices and serves as the game-changing role in the field. 3D printing converts computer-assisted design (CAD) into a physical object in a single process, and the process is easy, fast, and versatile with low-cost. This chapter will focus on the 3D printing technology and development, as well as the applications for enabling microfluidic fabrication of both monolithic, 3D-printed microfluidic device and mold-based polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device casting. The direct 3D printing of microfluidic automixer has been demonstrated as proof-of-concept to be employed in point-of-care diagnosis of anemia. The 3D molding of PDMS microfluidic devices was also discussed, which overcomes the lengthy and complicated protocols via soft lithography, offering quick 3D microstructure prototyping. The application of 3D printing in microfluidic technology has shown tremendous potential in tissue engineering, sample preparation techniques, cell processing, and biochemical detection, which can facilitate a paradigm shift in methodology used in studying complex biological systems.