Hi all, This post showcase a simple (low-tech) alignment tool for assembling the different components of a microfluidic chamber. Essentially, the alignment pieces are made from two index papers cut using the Silhouette Cameo. The two cut index papers are bonded together using double-sided tapes. The square holes are where the membrane chips are to…
The typical dialysis center experience targets a urea clearance value of KT/V = 1.4 (KT/V is explained by Dean here). We can use this knowledge to solve for the clearance rate of a typical dialysis center experience. Assuming 40 L of blood (body weight is about 60% water so this corresponds to 145 lbs,) 4…
The Bowman’s Capsule contains the Glomerulus, these are both part of a nephron of which the kidney has a gazillion. (The real estimate is the each kidney contains a million nephrons) Here are some pics to orient you. These give some idea why the Fissel group uses slits. The glomeruli are the main filtration device…
SiMPore submitted a Phase I SBIR proposal to NSF for liftoff of microporous silicon oxide and nanoporous nitride. This is a resubmission of the NSF Nanomanufacturing proposal that Tom and Bob submitted last Oct. and just heard last week that it was declined. That proposal was liftoff of nanoporous membranes using inorganic scaffold materials. Several…
As part of the decision letter on Barrett’s ancient vacuole manuscript, the editor sent a little tutorial from the University of Texas on significant digits and standard deviations. Apparently ACTA Biomaterialia looks at this carefully and found we needed a little schooling. If I’ve seen this approach to the topic of significant figures, I’ve long…
During our meeting with Vincent Tabard-Cossa from U Ottawa, we are going to explore the concept of using nano porous silicon nitride membranes in electronic detection schemes for identifying nucleic acid:small molecule complexes. The concept was demonstrated by Wanunu et al, Nano Letters, 2011, where they showed single nanopores were able to detect complexes of…
Hi all, Today I would like to briefly mention the important parameters to consider when saturating a substrate with proteins by simple adsorption. More specifically, the concentration and time required to fully saturate a substrate ares estimated for systems with different geometry (see the PDF attachment): [NRG] surface adsoprtion The first-order approximations entailed in the above…
I submitted a proposal last week with Tom & I as co-PI’s to NSF’s Process Reaction Engineering division in CBET. Novel Catalytic Membrane Reactor Based on Ultra-thin Palladium Film Supported on Nano-structured Inorganic Membrane I’m attaching the intro. paragraph and a couple of the figures to give a general idea of what the proposal is…
I used COMSOL for finite element analysis (FEA) modeling of EOF and DEP at a microporous membrane in a PDMS microfluidic channel. Effects of two parameters were determined: Membrane thickness, and spacing between pores. The modeled membranes had a 25×25 um surface, and a thickness of either 100 nm or 500 nm. Pore diameter was…
