Microfabrication of a two-stage BioMEMS microfluidic cell sorter

Point-of-care devices represent the future for medical technologies. Current diagnostic tools are cumbersome, expensive, complicated, and often at risk for contamination. There is a need for cost effective, portable, closed-system, high-speed cell screening and cell isolating device. A microfabricated, exponentially-staging, BioMEMS microfluidic cytometer/cell sorting device offers these advantages over current technologies. A two-stage branched architecture allows the study of inter-particle spacing, flow relations, pressure measurements, and cell behavior in an environment where fluorescence detection is used to identify and analyze certain cellular characteristics. This device was microfabricated using the polymer PDMS to transmit light effectively, to be inexpensive and disposable, and to be easy to manipulate. For initial prototyping, an inverted fluorescent Nikon microscope provided the necessary excitation to view the particles and cells. For the portable device, avalanche photo diodes (APDs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs) are being incorporated into the device for the detection and excitation respectively. For low light level applications, sigma-delta modulation methods are being applied to reduce noise susceptibility and to detect the APD signal more efficiently. In addition, a data acquisition system (DAQ) has been designed that can effectively track signals from a cell sorter using a digital signal processing (DSP) board and a laptop computer. Currently elastomeric valves for diverting flow have been incorporated into the microfluidic chip. Measurements are being made of the effects of the microfluidics valve structures, or the simple opening and closing of selected channels to divert flow and cells down specific channels depending on their measured properties.