Microsystems and BioMEMS Laboratory

Chong H. Ahn, Microsystems and BioMEMS Laboratory
Website:http://www.biomems.uc.edu/

Polymer smart lab-on-a-chip (LOC) with microfluidics is one of the most innovative platforms for the better analysis of biochemical molecules which includes immunoassays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for the quantification of a wide range of analytes for serum, plasma and cell lysates.  The microfluidics and lab-on-a-chips can be applied to in vitro diagnostics (IVD), ELISA, and point-of-care testing (POCT) clinical diagnostics.  A couple of lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic platforms developed in this lab have been transferred for commercial products.

Novel Devices Laboratory

Jason Heikenfeld, Novel Devices Laboratory
Website: http://www.ece.uc.edu/devices/

Electrofluidics and electrowetting technology allow scalable and digital control of droplets as small as 10’s of µm in diameter, and over LCD size substrates with millions of control electrodes.  Recent breakthroughs at UC include electrical switching of brilliantly colored ink-jet fluids for e-Paper displays, and the world’s first technique for electrical programming of virtually any microfluidic network.  This work involves over a dozen corporate partnerships spanning the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Sensors Laboratory

William R. Heineman, Sensors Laboratory
Website:http://www.che.uc.edu/sensors/index.html

Novel spectroelectrochemical sensor A novel sensor with remarkable selectivity has been developed by combining partitioning into a film, electrochemistry, and spectroscopy in a single device. Biosensors Biosensors use selective biological recognition reactions to target a specific analyte. We have made significant contributions to the development of electrochemical immunosensors where the biological recognition element is an antibody. Capillary electrophoresis on a microchip A goal of this research is to significantly improve the determination of trace amounts of biologicals with respect to speed of analysis, selectivity, and limit of detection, versus the standard methodology.

Bio Micro Systems Laboratory

Ian Papautsky, Bio Micro Systems Laboratory
Website: http://www.biomicro.uc.edu/

Biomicrofluidic Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) platforms use integrate microfluidics (pressure or electrically driven) with biosensors (electrochemical or optical) for low-cost, rapid, point-of-care systems.  Recent advances in our lab are focusing on taking advantage of microscale phenomena, such as inertial effects (inertial microfluidics), electrowetting (electrofluidics), or capillary forces (paper microfluidics) to manipulate and process biological samples (blood, serum, urine) for on-chip sensors.  

Micro Thermofluidics Laboratory

Sang Young Son, Micro Thermofluidics Laboratory 

Simultaneous control of fluid and heat is an essential technology in the development of microfluidic systems in terms of quality assurance. Due to small thermal-mass, the operation of microfluidic systems is easily affected by the system temperature.  The thermal effect has been a major source to degrade its performance. Micro Thermofluidics technology is assuring the precise fluid control under various thermal conditions.

Nanoelectronics Laboratory

Andrew Steckl, Nanoelectronics Laboratory
Website:http://www.nanolab.uc.edu/

The NanoLab is pursuing the innovative of widely available materials (such as natural DNA, cellulose) in various applications – flexible displays, electronics on paper, smart membranes and fabrics, etc. Electrofluidics is at the heart of many of these applications: electrowetting displays, electrospinning nanofibers, lab-on-chip sensors, etc.