Array transducer for ultrasonic manipulation of particles

Författare

Tobias Lilliehorn
Linda Johansson
Urban Simu
Tadeusz Stepinski
Stefan Johansson
Mikael Evander
Monica Almqvist
Thomas Laurell
Johan Nilsson

Summary, in English

This paper presents the concept and initial work on a microfluidic platform for bead-based analysis of biological sample. The core technology in this project is ultrasonic manipulation and trapping of particle in array configurations by means of acoustic forces. The platform is ultimately aimed for parallel multistep bioassays performed on biochemically activated microbeads (or particles) using submicrolitre sample volumes. A first prototype with three individually controlled particle trapping sites has been developed and evaluated. Standing ultrasonic waves were generated across a microfluidic channel by integrated PZT ultrasonic microtransducers. Particles in a fluid passing a transducer were drawn to pressure minima in the acoustic field, thereby being trapped and confined laterally over the transducer. It is anticipated that acoustic trapping using integrated transducers can be exploited in miniaturised total chemical analysis systems (µTAS), where e.g. microbeads with immobilised antibodies can be trapped in arrays and subjected to minute amounts of sample followed by a reaction, detected using fluorescence. A first model bioassay with detection of fluorescein marked avidin binding to trapped biotin beads has been evaluated. To enable development of the next generation of 2D array trapping devices, means of microfabricating multilayer ultrasonic array transducers using thick film technology have been developed.

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