2024 Workshop


Sheila Barros explains the layout of a faraday cage for data collection to a workshop attendee in the Soper Lab

Overview

The Center of BioModular Multi-Scale Systems for Precision Medicine (CBM2) hosted the annual “How to Make It/How to Use It” Workshop at Gray-Little Hall August 7th–9th. Participants from Kansas, Missouri, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Brazil attended lectures and received hands-on laboratory experiences concerning the design, manufacturing, and applications of microfluidic devices.

Center director Dr. Steve Soper opened the first day of lectures on “How to Make It” with an introduction to microfluidics and nanofluidics, covering the types of experiments that can be conducted with both technologies and examining the advantages and disadvantages of each. This was followed by lectures from Dr. Matt Hupert, Prof. Sunggook Park, and Prof. Adam Hall. That afternoon, participants were given a tour of the Gray-Little Hall cleanroom, where various fabrication techniques discussed in the lectures were shown. Demonstrations included optical lithography, 3D printing, injection molding, and preparation of resin stamps.

The second day of lectures on “How to Use It” topics included presentations from Dr. Maggie Witek, Mr. Collin Mckinney, Mr. Matt Verber, and researchers from the Soper Lab—Ms. Hanna Nguyen, Ms. Katie Childers, and Dr. Shakila Peli Thanthri. Following an afternoon of chip assembly demonstrations, guests gathered for a reception dinner at the Adams Alumni Center. That evening, Prof. Andy Godwin of the University of Kansas Medical Center gave a keynote address on the unique medical applications of fluidic devices—“Liquid Gold in Precision Medicine: Liquid-Based Biopsies for Cancer Detection and Monitoring.”

On the final day of the workshop, participants were able to see the completed nanofluidic device in use as they ran assays to determine the presence of viruses or peptides in a sample. After this hands-on experience, Mr. Matt Verber discussed the results and methods for interpreting the data to conclude the workshop.

Presentation recordings and a photo gallery from the event can be found below.




"How to Make It"

Rapid Prototyping

Dr. Mateuz Hupert's presentation on "Rapid Prototyping of Microfluidics using High-Precision Micromilling and 3D Printing" given during the "How to Make It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Replication Techniques

Dr. Sunggook Park's presentation on "Replication Techniques" given during the "How to Make It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Metrology

Dr. Steven Soper's presentation on "Metrology" given during the "How to Make It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Designing a Nanofluidic

Dr. Adam Hall's presentation on "Designing a Nanofluidic for a Targeted Application: Molecular Detection and Assessment" given during the "How to Make It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

"How to Use It"

Materials

Dr. Maggie Witek's presentation on "Different Materials for Microfluidics and Nanofluidics: Methods for Activating and Functionalizing Thermoplastic Surfaces" given during the "How to Use It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Biomedical Applications

Hanna Nguyen's presentation on "Plastic In-Plane Nanopore Sensors for Biomedical Applications" given during the "How to Use It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Liquid Biopsy

Dr. Maggie Witek's presentation on "Microfluidics for Liquid Biopsy Markers Isolations" given during the "How to Use It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Integrated Systems

Katie Childer's presentation on "Integrated Multi-Scale Fluidic Systems" given during the "How to Use It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Commercial Applications

Shakila Peli Thanthri's presentation on "Microfluidics and Nanofluidics in Commercial Applications" given during the "How to Use It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Signal and Noise Considerations

Collin Mckinney's presentation on "Signal and Noise Considerations in Electronic Measurements" given during the "How to Use It" section of the 2024 Workshop.

Discussion

Results and Discussion

Matt Verber's presentation on "Results and Discussion" given after hands-on data collection during the final day of the 2024 Workshop.