• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2022

Neurons-on-a-Chip technology has been developed to provide diverse in vitro neuro-tools to study neuritogenesis, synaptogensis, axon guidance, and network dynamics. The two core enabling technologies are soft-lithography and microelectrode array technology. Soft lithography technology made it possible to fabricate microstamps and microfluidic channel devices with a simple replica molding method in a biological laboratory and innovatively reduced the turn-around time from assay design to chip fabrication, facilitating various experimental designs. To control nerve cell behaviors at the single cell level via chemical cues, surface biofunctionalization methods and micropatterning techniques were developed. Microelectrode chip technology, which provides a functional readout by measuring the electrophysiological signals from individual neurons, has become a popular platform to investigate neural information processing in networks. Due to these key advances, it is possible to study the relationship between the network structure and functions, and they have opened a new era of neurobiology and will become standard tools in the near future.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.196-201
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• 2004

In biometric and biomedical applications, a special transporting mechanism must be designed for the ${\mu}$TAS (micro total analysis system) to move samples and reagents through the microchannels that connect the unit procedure components in the system. An important issue for this miniaturization and integration is microfluid management technique, i.e., microfluid transportation, metering, and mixing. In view of this, this study presents an optimal fuzzy sliding-mode control (OFSMC) design based on the 8051 microprocessor and implementation of a complete microfluidic manipulated system implementation of biochip system with a pneumatic pumping actuator, a feedback-signal photodiodes and flowmeter. The new microfluid management technique successfully improved the efficiency of molecular biology reaction by increasing the velocity of the target nucleic acid molecules, which increases the effective collision into the probe molecules as the target molecules flow back and forth. Therefore, this hybridization chip was able to increase hybridization signal 6-fold and reduce non-specific target-probe binding and background noises within 30 minutes, as compared to conventional hybridization methods, which may take from 4 hours to overnight. In addition, the new technique was also used in DNA extraction. When serum existed in the fluid, the extraction efficiency of immobilized beads with solution flowing back and forth was 88-fold higher than that of free-beads.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2457-2460
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• 2003

There is a great demand to manipulate biological cell autonomously since biologist should spend much time to obtain skillful manipulation techniques. For this purpose, we propose a cell chip to control, carry, fix and locate the cell. In this paper, we focus on the cell rotator to rotate individual biological cell based on a micro fluidics technology. The cell rotator consists of injection hole and rotation well to rotate a biological cell properly. Under the variation of flow rate in injection hole, the angular velocity of a biological cell is evaluated to find the feasibility of the proposed rotation method. As a practical experiment, Zebrafish egg is employed. Based on this research, we find the possibility of non-contact rotation way that can highly reduce the damage of the biological cell during manipulation. To realize an autonomous biological cell manipulation, a cell chip with manipulation well and micro channel in this research will be utilized effectively in near future.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1680-1681
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• 2011

In this paper, particle counting system using a CMOS image sensor is demonstrated. The system utilizes a linear photodetector array as a detection element. Therefore, the particles are detected by large detection region, in contrast to a single detector in conventional particle counting devices, while maintaining the sensitivity. The advantage of proposed system is that particles are detected in a relatively large area without using the particle focusing method. Also, proposed system can be easily integrated with a microfluidic chip by attaching the device underneath the bottom plate of the microfluidic chip. Detection of polystyrene microbeads has been tested at a flow rate of 4.89mm/s. For 21 measurements, proposed system showed an average count error of 7.29% and a standard deviation of 4.74%. Potentially, the proposed system can detect even smaller particles simply by utilizing a higher resolution CMOS image sensor.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2005

We present a finite difference solution for electrokinetic flow in rectangular microchannels encompassing Navier's fluid slip phenomena. The externally applied body force originated from between the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann field around the channel wall and the flow-induced electric field is employed in the equation of motion. The basic principle of net current conservation is applied in the ion transport. The effects of the slip length and the long-range repulsion upon the velocity profile are examined in conjunction with the friction factor. It is evident that the fluid slip counteracts the effect by the electric double layer and induces a larger flow rate. Particle streak imaging by fluorescent microscope and the data processing method developed ourselves are applied to straight channel designed to allow for flow visualization of dilute latex colloids underlying the condition of simple fluid. The reliability of the velocity profile determined by the flow imaging is justified by comparing with the finite difference solution. We recognized the behavior of fluid slip in velocity profiles at the hydrophobic surface of polydimethylsiloxane wall, from which the slip length was evaluated for different conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.921-925
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• 2015

The number of people suffering from renal disease increases every year. One of the most common treatments (clinical care options) for renal diseases is hemodialysis. However it takes a long time and has a high cost. Therefore, the importance of artificial kidney research has risen. Filtering creatinine from blood is one of the prime renal functions. Thus, we designed a novel two channel microfluidic chip focused on that function. In order to bond the individual polydimethylsiloxane layers, we have developed a housing system using acrylic plastic frame. This method has significant advantages in changing filter membranes. We use anodic aluminum oxide for the filter membrane. We analyzed the difference in the absorbance values for various creatinine concentrations using the Jaffe reaction. For the purpose of acquiring a standard equation to quantify the creatinine concentration, we interpolated the measured data and confirmed the concentration of the filtered solution. Through this experiment, we determined how the filtration efficiency depended on the flow rate and creatinine concentration.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.237-241
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• 2018

The real-time enrichment and detection of pathogens are serious issues and rapidly evolving field of research because of the ability of these pathogens to cause infectious diseases. In general, bacterial detection is accomplished by conventional colony counting or by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) after DNA extraction. As colony counting requires considerable time to cultivate, PCR is an attractive method for rapid detection. A small number of pathogens can cause diseases. Hence, a pretreatment process, such as enrichment is essential for detecting bacteria in an actual environment. Thus, in this study, we developed a microfluidic chip capable of performing rapid enrichment of bacteria and the extraction of their genes. A lectin, i.e., Concanavalin A (ConA), which shows binding affinity to the surface of most bacteria, was coated on the surface of magnetic particles to nonspecifically capture bacteria. It was subsequently concentrated through magnetic forces in a microfluidic channel. To lyse the captured bacteria, magnetic particles were irradiated by a wavelength of 532nm. The photo-thermal effect on the particles was sufficient for extracting DNA, which was consequently utilized for the identification of bacteria. Our device will help monitor the existence of bacteria in various environmental situations such as water, air, and soil.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.357-362
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• 2011

This paper demonstrates a novel electrodynamic technique to remove particles from the wall of microchannels. Dielectrohporesis(DEP) is generated by applying alternating electric potentials to the interdigitated electrodes integrated at the bottom of the micro-channel. The proposed technique is applied to a general microfluidic channel as a feasibility test. To examine the wall loss reduction efficiency, 10 ${\mu}m$ diameter Polystyrene latexes(PSL) were supplied to the inlet of the device. Then, the concentration of collected particles through devices was measured. In the experiment for 10 ${\mu}m$ diameter PSL particles, the concentration of the injected particles was $174.25{\times}10^4$ particles/ml. However, the concentration of collected particles at the outlet was $52.25{\times}10^4$ particles/ml. Only 30 % of particles had arrived at the outlet and 70 % of particles had adhered to the wall of the microfluidic channel. By applying alternating electric potentials from 0 to 20 $V_{pp}$ at 3 MHz, the concentration of injected particles was 135.00${\times}10^4$ particles/ml, the concentration of collected particles was increased as $105.25{\times}10^4$ particles/ml at 20 $V_{pp}$ at the outlet. When the electric potential was 20 $V_{pp}$, the particle loss was decreased by 39 % (initial loss: 70 %, loss at 20 Vpp: 31 %) with 10 ${\mu}m$ particle. The particle loss was decreased along to the incensement of electric potentials and the enlargement of the diameter of particles. According to these measured results, it was confirmed that the proposal of using DEP technique could be a good candidate for particle loss reduction in micro-particle processing chip application. Moreover, it is expected that the proposed technique could enhance performance of microfluidic and biochip devices.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.720-727
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• 2008

Microfluidic single chip integrating thermopneumatic micropump and micro check valve are developed. The micropump and micorvalve are made of biocompatible materials, glass and PDMS, so as to be applicable to the biochip. By using the passive-type check valve, backward flow and fluid leakage are blocked and flow control is stable and precise. The chip is composed of three PDMS layers and a glass substrate. In the chip, flow channel and pump chamber were made on the PDMS layers by the replica molding technique and pump heater was made on the glass substrate by Cr/Au deposition. Diameter of the pump chamber is 7 mm and the width and depth of the channel are 200 and $180{\mu}m$, respectively. The PDMS layers chip and the heater deposited glass chip are combined by a jig and a clamp for pumping operation, and they are separable so that PDMS chip is used as a disposable but the heater chip is able to be used repeatedly. Pumping performance was simulated by CFD software and investigated experimentally. The performance was the best when the duty ratio of the applied voltage to the heater was 33%.

• Clean Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2015

Digital microfluidic electroporation system was used for the transformation of microalgae and we have obtained higher transformation efficiency and viability than that of conventional method. Key parameters of electroporation such as pulse voltage, number, and duration time were systematically investigated for two different microalgal strains with and without cell wall. We have found that cell wall does not always have negative effects on the gene transformation of microalgae. Parallel processing of proposed digital microfluidic electroporation was demonstrated together with on chip culture of microalgae.