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Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing

The miniaturization of laboratory procedures for Lab-on-Chip (LoC) devices and translation to various platforms such as single cell analysis or Organ-on-Chip (OoC) systems are revolutionizing the life sciences and biomedical fields. As a result, microfluidics is becoming a viable technology for impr...

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Autores principales: Silverio, Vania, Guha, Suvajyoti, Keiser, Armelle, Natu, Rucha, Reyes, Darwin R., van Heeren, Henne, Verplanck, Nicolas, Herbertson, Luke H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9490024/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36159671
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.958582
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author Silverio, Vania
Guha, Suvajyoti
Keiser, Armelle
Natu, Rucha
Reyes, Darwin R.
van Heeren, Henne
Verplanck, Nicolas
Herbertson, Luke H.
author_facet Silverio, Vania
Guha, Suvajyoti
Keiser, Armelle
Natu, Rucha
Reyes, Darwin R.
van Heeren, Henne
Verplanck, Nicolas
Herbertson, Luke H.
author_sort Silverio, Vania
collection PubMed
description The miniaturization of laboratory procedures for Lab-on-Chip (LoC) devices and translation to various platforms such as single cell analysis or Organ-on-Chip (OoC) systems are revolutionizing the life sciences and biomedical fields. As a result, microfluidics is becoming a viable technology for improving the quality and sensitivity of critical processes. Yet, standard test methods have not yet been established to validate basic manufacturing steps, performance, and safety of microfluidic devices. The successful development and widespread use of microfluidic technologies are greatly dependent on the community’s success in establishing widely supported test protocols. A key area that requires consensus guidelines is leakage testing. There are unique challenges in preventing and detecting leaks in microfluidic systems because of their small dimensions, high surface-area to volume ratios, low flow rates, limited volumes, and relatively high-pressure differentials over short distances. Also, microfluidic devices often employ heterogenous components, including unique connectors and fluid-contacting materials, which potentially make them more susceptible to mechanical integrity failures. The differences between microfluidic systems and traditional macroscale technologies can exacerbate the impact of a leak on the performance and safety on the microscale. To support the microfluidics community efforts in product development and commercialization, it is critical to identify common aspects of leakage in microfluidic devices and standardize the corresponding safety and performance metrics. There is a need for quantitative metrics to provide quality assurance during or after the manufacturing process. It is also necessary to implement application-specific test methods to effectively characterize leakage in microfluidic systems. In this review, different methods for assessing microfluidics leaks, the benefits of using different test media and materials, and the utility of leakage testing throughout the product life cycle are discussed. Current leakage testing protocols and standard test methods that can be leveraged for characterizing leaks in microfluidic devices and potential classification strategies are also discussed. We hope that this review article will stimulate more discussions around the development of gas and liquid leakage test standards in academia and industry to facilitate device commercialization in the emerging field of microfluidics.
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spelling pubmed-94900242022-09-22 Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing Silverio, Vania Guha, Suvajyoti Keiser, Armelle Natu, Rucha Reyes, Darwin R. van Heeren, Henne Verplanck, Nicolas Herbertson, Luke H. Front Bioeng Biotechnol Bioengineering and Biotechnology The miniaturization of laboratory procedures for Lab-on-Chip (LoC) devices and translation to various platforms such as single cell analysis or Organ-on-Chip (OoC) systems are revolutionizing the life sciences and biomedical fields. As a result, microfluidics is becoming a viable technology for improving the quality and sensitivity of critical processes. Yet, standard test methods have not yet been established to validate basic manufacturing steps, performance, and safety of microfluidic devices. The successful development and widespread use of microfluidic technologies are greatly dependent on the community’s success in establishing widely supported test protocols. A key area that requires consensus guidelines is leakage testing. There are unique challenges in preventing and detecting leaks in microfluidic systems because of their small dimensions, high surface-area to volume ratios, low flow rates, limited volumes, and relatively high-pressure differentials over short distances. Also, microfluidic devices often employ heterogenous components, including unique connectors and fluid-contacting materials, which potentially make them more susceptible to mechanical integrity failures. The differences between microfluidic systems and traditional macroscale technologies can exacerbate the impact of a leak on the performance and safety on the microscale. To support the microfluidics community efforts in product development and commercialization, it is critical to identify common aspects of leakage in microfluidic devices and standardize the corresponding safety and performance metrics. There is a need for quantitative metrics to provide quality assurance during or after the manufacturing process. It is also necessary to implement application-specific test methods to effectively characterize leakage in microfluidic systems. In this review, different methods for assessing microfluidics leaks, the benefits of using different test media and materials, and the utility of leakage testing throughout the product life cycle are discussed. Current leakage testing protocols and standard test methods that can be leveraged for characterizing leaks in microfluidic devices and potential classification strategies are also discussed. We hope that this review article will stimulate more discussions around the development of gas and liquid leakage test standards in academia and industry to facilitate device commercialization in the emerging field of microfluidics. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-09-07 /pmc/articles/PMC9490024/ /pubmed/36159671 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.958582 Text en Copyright © 2022 Silverio, Guha, Keiser, Natu, Reyes, van Heeren, Verplanck and Herbertson. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Silverio, Vania
Guha, Suvajyoti
Keiser, Armelle
Natu, Rucha
Reyes, Darwin R.
van Heeren, Henne
Verplanck, Nicolas
Herbertson, Luke H.
Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing
title Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing
title_full Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing
title_fullStr Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing
title_full_unstemmed Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing
title_short Overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: Leakage testing
title_sort overcoming technological barriers in microfluidics: leakage testing
topic Bioengineering and Biotechnology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9490024/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36159671
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.958582
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