Gregory Nordin,
Professor,
Brigham Young University
Professor Greg Nordin joined the faculty of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at Brigham Young University in 2005. From 1992 to 2005 he was at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) where he was the founding director of the university's Nano and Micro Devices Center, which was created as an independent research center by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. While director of the center, he created a 7,600 sq. ft. cleanroom facility for nano and microfabricated devices to pursue research activities in photonics, MEMS, microfluidics, and sensors. Prof. Nordin has led numerous large research programs, and has been principal investigator on research grants from government and industry totaling $18M. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award (1996) for promising young faculty, and twice received the UAH Outstanding Researcher Award as well as the UAH Foundation Award for Research and Creative Achievement. Prof. Nordin's current research is focused on developing 3D printing for microfluidic devices and applications. In March 2018 Prof. Nordin gave a TED talk on his group's work, which is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T122fzOEVYE.
Advances in 3D Printing for Microfluidics
Tuesday, 25 June 2024 at 11:30
Add to Calendar ▼2024-06-25 11:30:002024-06-25 12:30:00Europe/LondonAdvances in 3D Printing for MicrofluidicsLab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Europe 2024 in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsRotterdam, The NetherlandsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
While there is great interest in 3D printing for microfluidic device fabrication, a main challenge has been to achieve feature sizes that are in the truly microfluidic regime (<100 µm). A key issue is that microfluidic devices are comprised primarily of negative space features, which therefore dominate 3D printing resolution requirements, as compared to positive space features that are typical for many other 3D printing applications. Consequently, we have developed our own stereolithographic 3D printers and materials that are specifically tailored to meet these needs. We have shown 3D printed channels as small as 18 µm x 20 µm, and have recently reduced this to 2 µm x 2 µm. We have also developed active elements such as valves and pumps with the smallest valves having an active area of only 15 µm x 15 µm. With these capabilities, we demonstrate highly integrated 3D printed microfluidic components such as a 10-stage 2-fold serial dilutor in an X-Y footprint of only 2.2 mm x 1.1 mm. We also show a fast (~1 ms) and small (<1 mm^3) 3D printed mixer using a new multi-resolution 3D printing technique. These advances open the door to 3D printing as a replacement for expensive cleanroom fabrication processes, with the additional advantage of fast (~5-15 minute), parallel fabrication of many devices in a single print run due to their small size.