High-fidelity replication of thermoplastic microneedles with open microfluidic channels
Article
Article Title | High-fidelity replication of thermoplastic microneedles with open microfluidic channels |
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ERA Journal ID | 213691 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Faraji Rad, Zahra (Author), Nordon, Robert E. (Author), Anthony, Carl J. (Author), Bilston, Lynne (Author), Prewett, Philip D. (Author), Arns, Ji-Youn (Author), Arns, Christoph H. (Author), Zhang, Liangchi (Author) and Davies, Graham J. (Author) |
Journal Title | Microsystems and Nanoengineering |
Journal Citation | 3, pp. 1-11 |
Article Number | 17034 |
Number of Pages | 11 |
Year | 2017 |
Publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 2055-7434 |
2096-1030 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1038/micronano.2017.34 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.nature.com/articles/micronano201734 |
Abstract | Development of microneedles for unskilled and painless collection of blood or drug delivery addresses the quality of healthcare through early intervention at point-of-care. Microneedles with submicron to millimeter features have been fabricated from materials such as metals, silicon, and polymers by subtractive machining or etching. However, to date, large-scale manufacture of hollow microneedles has been limited by the cost and complexity of microfabrication techniques. This paper reports a novel manufacturing method that may overcome the complexity of hollow microneedle fabrication. Prototype microneedles with open microfluidic channels are fabricated by laser stereolithography. Thermoplastic replicas are manufactured from these templates by soft-embossing with high fidelity at submicron resolution. The manufacturing advantages are (a) direct printing from computer-aided design (CAD) drawing without the constraints imposed by subtractive machining or etching processes, (b) high-fidelity replication of prototype geometries with multiple reuses of elastomeric molds, (c) shorter manufacturing time compared to three-dimensional stereolithography, and (d) integration of microneedles with open-channel microfluidics. Future work will address development of open-channel microfluidics for drug delivery, fluid sampling and analysis. |
Keywords | Drug delivery; Laser lithography; Microneedles; Point-of-care diagnostics; Soft embossing |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 401609. Polymers and plastics |
400303. Biomechanical engineering | |
400302. Biomaterials | |
Byline Affiliations | University of New South Wales |
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q6y50/high-fidelity-replication-of-thermoplastic-microneedles-with-open-microfluidic-channels
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