Paul Nestor DJOMOU DJONGA
In biosensing, bio-receptors are immobilized and labeled on the
surface requiring specific manual steps. Microfluidics have paved
the way for packing these lab-tasks together in a point-of-care
(POC) device. However, conventional microfabrication techniques
are tedious, expensive and requires cleanroom facilities [1,2]. To
overcome these limitations, 3D printing (3DP) offers a rapid and
inexpensive prototyping allowing the conversion of a computerassisted
design (CAD) into a physical object in a single process
with 3D flow distribution and multilevel format. Despite these
advantages, 3DP printing request a feasible design for testing and
in most cases, researchers end-up using a trial-error approach [3-
5]. In this study, we used 3D multiphase flow simulations to go
beyond trial-error fabrication. From the outputs of the simulation,
3D printed microfluidic chips were fabricated for its subsequent
testing. Using this approach, the optimum design can be found in
a quicker and more efficient way, accelerate the time-to-market,
and reduce the operation costs of the entire process (figure).
Besides, the performance of different printer technologies was
evaluated in terms of feature size, accuracy, and suitability for mass
manufacturing. Laminar flow was studied to assess their suitability
for microfluidics. As a proof of concept, 2 different applications
are presented: (1) direct 3D printed microfluidic chip with organic
biosensors for the assessment of the immune reaction against
biologicals targeted to inflammatory pathologies; (2) a compact
capillary-driven microfluidic device for the appropriate delivery of
reagents on the biosensing platform without using external pumps
and valves.