• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.167-168
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• 2006

Chemotaxis, or preferential motion due to presence of a chemical gradient, is an important factor in sperm fertilization of eggs in that it is the first interaction between sperm and egg. In the present study, we aim to quantify the possible chemoattractive role of the jelly coat. The chemotaxis of the sperm of sea urchin was demonstrated with the effective motility coefficient by a microfchannel made of polydimethysiloxane (PDMS). The relevance of these findings is that they provide insight on the first steps towards egg fertilization.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1686-1687
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• 2011

A microfabricated chip with in-channel electrochemical cell using interdigitated gold electrode was fabricated for sensitive electrochemical analysis. The gold electrodes were fabricated on glass wafer using thermal evaporator and were covered using PDMS mold containing microchannel for analyte and electrolyte. The active area of each electrode was $250\;{\mu}m{\times}200\;{\mu}m$ with a gap of 200 ${\mu}m$ between the electrodes. Microelectrodes results in maximum amplification of signal, since the signal enhancement effect due to cycling of the reduced and oxidized species strongly depends on the inter electrode distance. Analytes such as methylene blue and guanosine were characterized using the fabricated electrodes and their electrochemical characteristics were compared with conventional bulk electrodes. The device so developed shall find use as disposable electrochemical cell for rapid and sensitive analysis of electroactive species.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.1159-1165
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• 2013

Powder blasting, which is an efficient micromachining method for glass, silicon, and ceramics, has a critical disadvantage in that the surface finish is poor owing to the brittle fracture of materials. Low-pressure waterjet machining can be applied to smoothen the rough surface inside the blasted structure. In this study, the surface roughness and sectional dimension of micro-channels are observed during the repetitive application of a waterjet to blasted micro-channels. The asperities and subsurface cracks created by blasting are removed by waterjet machining. Along with the surface roughness, it is found that the sectional dimension increases and the edges of the finished micro-channel become slightly round. Finally, a microfluidic chip is machined by the blasting-waterjet process and a transparent microfluidic channel is obtained efficiently.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.3 s.258
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• pp.209-216
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• 2007

Bacterial chemotaxis is essential to the study of structure and function of bacteria. Although many studies have accumulated the knowledge about chemotaxis in the past, the motion of a single bacterium has not been studied much yet. In this study, we have developed a device microfabricated by soft lithography and consisting of microfluidic channels. The microfluidic assay generates a concentration gradient of chemoattractant linearly in the main channel by only diffusion of the chemicals. Bacteria are injected into the main channel in a single row by hydrodynamic focusing technique. We measured the velocity of bacteria in response to a given concentration gradient of chemoattractant using the microfludic assay, optical systems with CCD camera and simple PTV (Particle Tracking Velocimetry) algorithm. The advantage of this assay and experiment is to measure the velocity of a single bacterium and to quantify the degree of chemotaxis by statistically analyzing the velocity at the same time. Specifically, we measured and analyzed the motility of Escherichia coli strain RP437 in response to various concentration gradients of L-aspartate statistically and quantitatively by using this microfluidic assay. We obtained the probability density of the velocity while RP437 cells are swimming and tumbling in the presence of the linear concentration gradient of L-aspartate, and quantified the degree of chemotaxis by analyzing the probability density.