Artificial cilia for microfluidics

I've graduated in August 2008 at the department of applied physics of Eindhoven University of Technology in the group molecular biosensors for medical diagnostics (MBx). Topic was polymer MEMs for application in microfluidics. Inspired by the tiny tentacles appearing in organisms to interact with fluids (cilia), I created polymer tentacles that could be bent in a magnetic field: artificial cilia. By using a permanently magnetic material it was possible to bend them considerably.

More can be read in the abstract and report. Some graphs appearing in the report are available here too, together with the experimental data to create them.

The slides of the final presentation given at the 19th of September, 2008 are available too.

Related links

• Cilia
  • Cilia on Wikipedia; Paramecia are covered with cilia
  • What are cilia?, on lungs and the respiratory system
  • What's that smell?, on cilia in the nose
  • Secrets of the cilia
  • Cilia vs. flagella, movies
  • TEM images of cilia
  • Drummond Lab, on kidney development
  • Cilia proteome, a database on cilia proteins
• Bio-inspired microfluidics
  • Dutch polymer institute, bio-inspired and polymer MEMs
  • ARTIC european project on artificial cilia for microfluidics (more documents)
  • Bio-inspired physics (biomicrofluidics)
• Polymer processing
  • Polydimetyhsiloxane (PDMS): Polydimethylsiloxane on Wikipedia, PDMS Properties
  • Polymer module at University of Illinois
  • Soft lithography for dummies
  • Photolithography information at Colombia University
  • Resists at Nano Fab Lab, Albanova
  • CEE notes on hotplates and spin-coating
• Chemicals and materials
  • Where to find MSDS on the internet
  • EM Materials Database
  • MatWeb material property data
  • Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants
  • Cambridge materials science modules, micrographs and videos
  • Chemiekaarten (possibly subscription required)
  • Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (subscription required)
  • on solubility parameters
• Elasticity and bending
  • Elastic bending theory, notes on basic beam theory
  • MIT modules in mechanics of materials
  • Straing energy project
• (Nano)magnetism
  • Hitchhiker's guide to magnetism
  • Nanomagnetism (presentation)
  • magpar, parallel finite element micromagnetics; and some notes and pictures
  • Micromagnetic modelling
  • Scalable parallel micromagnetic solvers
• Journals
  • Lab on a chip
  • Journal of micromechanics and microengineering
  • Journal of microelectromechanical systems
  • Microfluidics and nanofluidics
  • Biomagnetic research and technology
• Other literature used
  Interesting articles from journals and other sources that I have gathered during my research are available here, just in case they are of any interest to the reader. For most references, you'll need journal subscriptions to be able to read the full text online.

  • All in one big list;
  • Cilia,
  • Microfluidics,
  • Polymer composites,
  • Polymer fabrication,
  • Construction (elasticity, bending, electromigration),
  • Magnetism, nanomagnetism,
  • others.