Abstract
The design, fabrication and performancecharacteristics of a semi-disposable CNC (computer numericalcontrol) machined plexiglass microvalve system for use withmicrofabricated devices or microchips designed for human cellisolation and DNA amplification systems are described. Unlikeother silicon chip-based microvalve systems, the CNC machinedmicrovalve system is easy to fabricate, and it does not require aclean-room environment and complicated microfabricationprocedures. The non-silicon-based microvalve comprises adisposable CNC machined plexiglass base and a flexible plasticmembrane. The microvalve was formed from two discontinuousmicro-channel components. The plexiglass used for fabricationdoes not inhibit biochemical reactions and extensive experimentalflow studies were performed to optimize the design of themicrovalve assembly so as to allow controlled flow. Differenttypes of plastic membrane and eight different discontinuousmicro-channel valve geometries were investigated and anoptimum design was chosen based on the experimental results.The final design of the microvalve has minimal dead volume (lessthan 0.16 µl). We have demonstrated that the CNCmachined plexiglass microvalve system can process microliterand sub-microliter sized samples of human whole blood withoutattendant problems, such as loss of sample on the microvalvesystem and loss by evaporation.
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