Abstract

Print-and-Play Microfluidic Devices for Cancer Diagnostics

Albert Folch, Professor of Bioengineering, University of Washington

Biologists and clinicians typically do not have access to microfluidic technology because they do not have the engineering expertise or equipment required to fabricate and/or operate microfluidic devices. Furthermore, the present commercialization path for microfluidic devices is usually restricted to high-volume applications in order to recover the large investment needed to develop the plastic molding processes. We are developing microfluidic devices through stereolithography, a form of 3D printing, in order to make microfluidic technology readily available via the web to biomedical scientists. Our lab presently focuses on developing 3D-printable microdevices that facilitate the advancement of basic neuroscience and translational cancer applications. The lab's long-term mission is to make microfluidic devices as intuitive to use as smartphones and make them easily available to clinicians in order to enable novel cancer diagnostics and therapies