• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1101-1110
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• 2023

Streptococcus mutans is the primary causative agent of caries, which is one of the most common human diseases. Thus, rapid and early detection of cariogenic bacteria is critical for its prevention. This study investigated the combination of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and microfluid technology to quantitatively detect S. mutans. A low-cost, rapid microfluidic chip using LAMP technology was developed to amplify and detect bacteria at 2.2-2.2 × 10⁶ colony-forming units (CFU)/ml and its detection limits were compared to those of standard polymerase chain reaction. A visualization system was established to quantitatively determine the experimental results, and a functional relationship between the bacterial concentration and quantitative results was established. The detection limit of S. mutans using this microfluidic chip was 2.2 CFU/ml, which was lower than that of the standard approach. After quantification, the experimental results showed a good linear relationship with the concentration of S. mutans, thereby confirming the effectiveness and accuracy of the custom-made integrated LAMP microfluidic system for the detection of S. mutans. The microfluidic system described herein may represent a promising simple detection method for the specific and rapid testing of individuals at risk of caries.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2007

Microelectrodes for measuring nitrogenous compounds (${NH_4}^+$, ${NO_3}^-$) that were applied into the microfluidics chips was investigated, and the effect of temperature was especially examined. In this specific research, microelectrodes were first calibrated to check the function, and then microsensor that was combined microelectrode with microfluidic chip was re-calibrated. Experimental results showed that there are no change in the function between microelectrode and microfluidic chip. The electro motive force (EMF) for the ${NH_4}^+$ microsensor was similar to the one theoretically calculated from Nernst equation, but the EMF for ${NO_3}^-$ showed minor change.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.10-14
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• 2014

In this study, we fabricate an integrated microfluidic chip with a planar Hall effect (PHE) sensor for single magnetic bead detection. The PHE sensor was constructed with a junction size of $10{\mu}m{\times}10{\mu}m$ using a trilayer structure of Ta(3 nm)/NiFe(10 nm)/Cu(1.2 nm)/IrMn(10 nm)/Ta(3 nm). The sensitivity of the PHE sensor was 19.86 ${\mu}V/Oe$. A diameter of 8.18 ${\mu}m$ magnetic beads was used, of which the saturation magnetization was ~2.1 emu/g. The magnetic susceptibility ${\chi}$ of these magnetic beads was calculated to be ~0.14. The diluted magnetic beads solution was introduced to the microfluidic channel attributing a single bead flow and simultaneously the PHE sensor voltage was measured to be 0.35 ${\mu}V$. The integrated microchip was able to detect a magnetic moment of $1.98{\times}10^{-10}$ emu.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.244-249
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• 2007

Fluidic conditions for the separation of phases were surveyed in a microfluidic aqueous two-phase extraction system. The infusion ratio between polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dextran solution defines the concentrations of each polymer in micro-channel, which determine the phase-separation. The appropriate ratio between PEG (M.W. 8000, 10%, w/v) and dextran T500 (M.W. 500000, 5%, w/v) in order to perform the separation of phases of both polymers was observed as changing the mixed ratio of both polymers. Based on the fluidic conditions, stable two-phase solutions were obtained within 4% to 8% and 3% to 1% of PEG and dextran, respectively. In addition, the characteristics of the two-phase were discussed. The separation technique studied in the paper can be applied for the implementation of a lab-on-a chip which can detect various biological entities such cells, bacterium, and virus in an integrated manner using built in a biosensor inside the chip.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.429-433
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• 2003

LAL (Limulus amebocyte lysate) test to detect and quantity endotoxin is based on gellation reaction between endotoxin and LAL from a blood extract of Limulus polyphemus. The test is labor intensive requiring dedicated personnel, takes relatively long reaction time (approximately 1 hr), requires relatively large volume of samples and reagents, and its end-point detection method is rather subjective. To solve these problems, we attempted to develop a miniaturized LOC (lab-on-a-chip) prototype using PDMS and glass. Using the 62 mm (length) ${\times}$ 18 mm (width) prototype in which 2 mm (width) ${\times}$ 44.34 mm (length) ${\times}$ 100 $\mu\textrm{m}$ (depth) microfluidic channel was provided, we compared the various detection methods of gellation, turbidometric, and chromogenic assays to find the chromogenic method to be the most suitable for small volume assay. In this assay, kinetic point method was more accurate than end point method. We also found the PDMS chip thickness should be minimized to around 2 mm to allow sufficient light transmittance, which necessitated a glass slide bonding for chip rigidity. Through the miniaturization, the test time was reduced from 1 hr to less than 10 minutes, and the sample volume could be reduced from 100 ${\mu}\ell$ to 4.4 ${\mu}\ell$. In sum, this study revealed that the mini LOC could be an alternative for a semi-automated and reliable method for LAL test.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.161-162
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• 2013

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.407-413
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• 2011

Over the last decade sophisticated and powerful microcapillary HPLC for proteomic analysis have been developed increasingly and interfaced with high resolution tandem mass spectrometers. Separation prior to mass spectrometric (MS) analysis removes impurities, and concentrates analytes in the narrow elution peaks, resulting in increased sensitivity of MS analysis. This review will focus on the recent advances of on-line highperformance separation techniques based on microfluidic chips for complex proteomic analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.46-50
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• 2020

On-demand droplet generation with tunable droplet volume is fundamental in many droplet microfluidic applications. In this work, we propose an acoustofluidic method to produce water-in-oil droplets with prescribed volume in an on-demand manner. Surface acoustic waves produced from a slanted interdigital transducer are coupled with parallel laminar streams of dispersed and continuous phase fluids. Acoustic radiation force acting on the fluid interface enable generation of droplets in a microfluidic chip. We expect that the proposed acoustofluidic droplet generation method will serve as a promising tool for on-demand droplet generation with on-chip droplet volume control.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.289-292
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• 2007

Polymethly methacrylate(PMMA) and polydimethlysiloxane(PDMS) surfaces were treated to improve adhesiveness by irradiation of a Nd:YAG pulse laser beam($\lambda=266nm$). A pulse laser beam was directed on a polymer surface in air, and the number of pulses was controlled by mobile velocity of a motorized stage. The laser treated surfaces were investigated using an optical microscope and a contact angle measuring instrument. It was thereby revealed that the contact angles were decreased in the laser treated surface. This in turn led to an increase of oxygen content and improved adhesiveness on the modified surface. With improved surface adhesion, a fluid channel could be formed on the laser treated surface region.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2019

This paper introduces microfluidic manipulation of microorganism by opto-electrokinetic technique, named rapid electrokinetic patterning (REP). REP is a hybrid method that utilizes the simultaneous application of a uniform electric field and a focused laser to manipulate various kinds and types of colloidal particles. Using the technique in preliminary experiments, we have successfully aggregated, translated, and trapped not only spherical polystyrene, latex, and magnetic particles but also ellipsoidal glass particles. Extending the manipulation target to cells, we attempted to manipulate saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), the most commonly used microorganism for food fermentation and biomass production. As a result, S. cerevisiae were assembled and dynamically trapped by REP at arbitrary location on an electrode surface. It firmly establishes the usefulness of REP technique for development of a high-performance on-chip bioassay system.