Team:BIOTEC Dresden/Methods Vesicles

Vesicles - Methods

Setup of the microfluidic system

The microfluidic system consists of a flow chamber created out of a hardened polymer and a pump system that controls the rates of flow of the various liquids into the chamber. Droplets are created within a defined space in the chamber and are propagated by the liquid flow along a grid that allows temporary containment and imaging of the droplets.

Production of flow chambers • mix PDMS and curing agent in 10:1 ratio • degas and pour on wafer with etched microstructures • polymerize on heat plate at 150 ºC for 30 min • add unpolymerized PDMS mixture to points on microstructure where microtube inlets are to be pierced • polymerize on heat plate at 150 ºC for 30 minutes • remove polymerized PDMS from wafer, cut to fit onto glass cover slide (24 x 60 mm), and use clean needles (0.8 mm) or laser cutter to pierce tube inlets • ionize PDMS and glass slide in plasma chamber for 30 sec to make it reactive • align PDMS on glass slide and seal • seal irreversibly by heating on plate at 60ºC for 6 hours