title: Fracture-based fabrication of normally closed, adjustable, and fully reversible microscale fluidic channels.
abstract: Adjustable fluidic structures play an important role in microfluidic systems. Fracture of multilayered materials under applied tension has been previously demonstrated as a convenient, simple, and inexpensive approach to fabricate nanoscale adjustable structures; here, it is demonstrated how to extend this concept to the microscale. This is achieved by a novel pairing of materials that leverages fracture mechanics to limit crack formation to a specified region, allowing to create size-controllable and adjustable microfluidic structures. This technique can be used to fabricate "normally closed" microfluidic channels that are completely reversible, a feature that is challenging to achieve in conventional systems without careful engineering controls. The adjustable microfluidic channels are then applied to mechanically lyse single cells, and subsequently manipulate the released nuclear chromatin, creating new possibilities for epigenetic analysis of single cells. This simple, versatile, and robust technology provides an easily accessible pathway to construct adjustable microfluidic structures, which will be useful in developing complex assays and experiments even in resource-limited settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2200 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.|Macromolecular Science and Engineering Center, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Byoung Choul
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2200 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moraes
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2350 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Jiexi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2200 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2350 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.|Department of Materials Science & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Thouless
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2200 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.|Macromolecular Science and Engineering Center, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.|Division of Nano-Bio and Chemical Engineering WCU Project, UNIST, Ulsan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takayama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry; D019245:Compressive Strength; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods*; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002843:Chromatin; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D011108:Polymers; C013830:baysilon; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: cracks; dynamics; fractures; microfluidics; reversibility