I-Corps: Scalable Microfluidic Manufacturing Using Microfluidic Pressure in Paper (uPiP) Fabrication

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an ultra low cost. microfluidic manufacturing technology for use in a broad range of liquid handling applications, including disease detection, point-of-care diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. While the global microfluidics market size is expected to reach $31.6 billion by 2027, very few prototype microfluidic devices are successfully translated to commercial products.

One reason for low market penetration is the absence of a low-cost, high throughput, manufacturing technique that can bridge the gap between initial academic and research and development prototyping efforts and the commercial requirements of manufacturing at large scales. The proposed technology aims to provide a low cost technology that significantly lowers the barrier to enter the microfluidics market.

Such a technology may enable widespread adoption of lab-on-a-chip technologies across a broad range of environmental, energy, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a paper-based, actively controlled liquid handling platform capable of use at commercial scale. The technology is known as Microfluidic Pressure in Paper (µPiP). In µPiP, a sheet of paper is cut into small liquid handling channels using a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser cutter, and subsequently laminated within two thin polymer membranes.

Previous results have demonstrated that, unlike many conventional paper-based fluidic platforms that rely on passive wetting, the proposed µPiP devices are capable of actively controlling fluid flow using external pressure. The proposed platform is capable of handling a wide range of complex liquids, including whole blood and crude oil, but yet capable of being manufactured at scale without device modification.

The research efforts are focused on developing the next-generation of paper-based microfluidic devices that are capable of being rapidly manufactured at low-cost for widespread use. This project will investigate the potential benefits that this proposed microfluidics manufacturing technology may offer.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.