Maskless microfabrication of thermosensitive gels using a microscope and application to a controlled release microchip.
Here we show a simple and convenient method to prepare micropatterned gels by the use of a microscope, without large-scale or special-order experimental setup. UV light focused by an objective lens was locally irradiated to a pre-gel solution in a microchannel. This method would be useful for preparing microgels at target positions in microchips. A controlled drug-release microchip has actually been fabricated by utilizing this local photo-irradiation method, and pulsatile drug release in response to temperature changes was demonstrated.
Yoshida
Ryo
R
Department of Materials Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan. ryo@cross.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Omata
Kazuya
K
Yamaura
Kotaro
K
Ebata
Masaya
M
Tanaka
Masahiro
M
Takai
Madoka
M