Dataset Information

Scalable Processing of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) Microfluidic Biochips.

ABSTRACT: Microfluidics evolved with the appearance of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomer with a short processing time and the possibility for replication on a micrometric scale. Despite the many advantages of PDMS, there are well-known drawbacks, such as the hydrophobic surface, the absorption of small molecules, the low stiffness, relatively high cost, and the difficulty of scaling up the fabrication process for industrial production, creating a need for alternative materials. One option is the use of stiffer thermoplastics, such as the cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), which can be mass produced, have lower cost and possess excellent properties. In this work, a method to fabricate COC microfluidic structures was developed. The work was divided into process optimization and evaluation of material properties for application in microfluidics. In the processing step, moulding, sealing, and liquid handling aspects were developed and optimized. The resulting COC devices were evaluated from the point of view of molecular diffusion, burst pressure, temperature resistance, and susceptibility to surface treatments and these results were compared to PDMS devices. Lastly, a target DNA hybridization assay was performed showing the potential of the COC-based microfluidic device to be used in biosensing and Lab-on-a-Chip applications.

SUBMITTER: Rodrigues RG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10609239 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Scalable Processing of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) Microfluidic Biochips.

Rodrigues Rodolfo G RG Condelipes Pedro G M PGM Rosa Rafaela R RR Chu Virginia V Conde João Pedro JP

Micromachines 20230927 10

Microfluidics evolved with the appearance of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomer with a short processing time and the possibility for replication on a micrometric scale. Despite the many advantages of PDMS, there are well-known drawbacks, such as the hydrophobic surface, the absorption of small molecules, the low stiffness, relatively high cost, and the difficulty of scaling up the fabrication process for industrial production, creating a need for alternative materials. One option is the u ...[more]

PMID: 37893274

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Project description:Serial macromolecular X-ray crystallography plays an important role in elucidating protein structures and consequently progressing the field of targeted therapeutics. The use of pulsed beams at different repetition frequencies requires the development of various sample-conserving injection strategies to minimize sample wastage between X-ray exposures. Fixed-target sample delivery methods that use solid support to hold the crystals in the X-ray beam path are gaining interest as a sample-conserving delivery system for X-ray crystallography with high crystal hit rates. Here, we present a novel fixed-target microfluidic system for delivering protein microcrystals to X-ray beams for diffraction data collection and structure determination. The fixed-target design consists of 3 symmetric sections arranged in an area of 1 in. × 1 in. with up to 18,000 crystal traps per device. Each trap is targeted to hold one crystal up to 50 μm in size in the largest dimension. The device has been fabricated using cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) for high-quality diffraction data collection with low background scattering induced through the fixed-target material. The newly developed fixed-target device is designed for vacuum compatibility which will enable the use in vacuum experimental chambers of X-ray radiation sources including the newly developed, first-of-its-kind compact X-ray light source (CXLS), which is currently in commissioning at Arizona State University. To assess the validity of the COC device, serial crystallography experiments were performed on the model protein lysozyme at the new European Synchrotron Radiation Facility-Extremely Brilliant Source (ESRF-EBS) beamline ID29. A 1.6 Å crystal structure of the protein was solved, demonstrating that, in general, the COC device can be used to generate high-quality data from macromolecular crystals at the CXLS and synchrotron radiation sources, which holds enormous potential for advancing the field of protein structure determination by fixed-target X-ray crystallography.

Project description:The ethylene/norbornene content within cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) is well known to affect the chemical and physical properties of the copolymer, such as the glass transition temperature (Tg) and transparency. However, no work has been reported evaluating the effects of the ethylene/norbornene content on the surface properties of COC following UV/O3 or O2 plasma activation. Activation with either O2 plasma or UV/O3 is often used to assist in thermal assembly of fluidic devices, increasing the wettability of the surfaces, or generating functional scaffolds for the attachment of biological elements. Thus, we investigated differences in the physiochemical surface properties of various ethylene/norbornene compositions of COC following activation using analytical techniques such as water contact angle (WCA), ATR-FTIR, XPS, TOF-SIMS, UV-VIS, AFM and a colorimetric assay utilizing Toluidine Blue O (TBO). Results showed that increased norbornene content led to the generation of more oxygen containing functionalities such as alcohols, ketones, aldehydes and carboxyl groups when activated with either UV/O3 or O2 plasma. Specifically, COC with ∼60% norbornene content showed a significantly higher -COOH functional group density when compared to COC with a 50% norbornene content and COC with a 35% norbornene content following UV/O3 or O2 plasma activation. Furthermore, COC with large norbornene contents showed a smaller average RMS roughness (0.65 nm) when compared to COC containing low norbornene contents (0.95 nm) following activation making this substrate especially suited for nanofluidic applications, which require smooth surfaces to minimize effects arising from dielectrophoretic trapping or non-specific adsorption. Although all COC substrates showed >90% transparency at wavelengths >475 nm, COC possessing high norbornene contents showed significantly less transparency at wavelengths below 475 nm following activation, making optical detection in this region difficult. Our data showed distinct physiochemical differences in activated COC that was dependent upon the ethylene/norbornene content of the thermoplastic and thus, careful selection of the particular COC grade must be considered for micro- and nanofluidics.

Dataset Information

Scalable Processing of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) Microfluidic Biochips.

Publications

Scalable Processing of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) Microfluidic Biochips.

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