Lego-inspired 3D components

Inspired by high-resolution 3D printing, an Indian-origin engineer has developed lego-like modular components that will build a 3D microfluidic system quickly and cheaply by simply snapping together small modules by hand.

Microfluidic systems are used in many fields including engineering, chemistry and biotechnology to precisely manipulate small volumes of fluids for use in applications such as enzymatic or DNA analysis, pathogen detection, clinical diagnostic testing and synthetic chemistry.

"If you have grown up to be an engineer or scientist, you have probably been influenced by Lego at some point in your childhood. I think every scientist has a secret fantasy that whatever they are building will be as simple to assemble," said Krishna Bhargava, a materials science graduate student at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering.

Traditionally, microfluidic devices are built in a clean room on a two-dimensional surface using the same technology developed to produce integrated circuits for the electronics industry.

Frustrated that reproducing a simple microfluidic circuit could cost so much time and money, Bhargava set out to simplify the construction process.

He abandoned the two-dimensional method of building microfluidic devices altogether.

Borrowing an approach from the electronics industry, Bhargava conceived of three-dimensional modular components that encapsulated the common elements of microfluidic systems as well as a connector that could join the separate components together.

Inspired by recent advancements in 3D-printing, Bhargava along with his team designed computer models for eight modular fluidic and instrumentation components (MFICs) that would each perform a simple operation.

"Examples are a 'helix' component that can mix two fluid streams and a component that contains an integrated optical sensor for measuring the size of small droplets," Bhargava explained.

"We were able to build a working microfluidic system as simple as clicking Lego blocks together," Bhargava noted.

Off-the-shelf sensors or other integrated components can be easily incorporated into systems built from MFICs.

The MFICs can also size droplets precisely - a useful function for drug delivery.

The findings were reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.