Nguyen, H-T. orcid.org/0000-0002-0073-5942, Thach, H., Roy, E. et al. (2 more authors) (2018) Low-Cost, Accessible Fabrication Methods for Microfluidics Research in Low-Resource Settings. Micromachines, 9 (9). 461. ISSN 2072-666X
Abstract
Microfluidics are expected to revolutionize the healthcare industry especially in developing countries since it would bring portable, easy-to-use, self-contained diagnostic devices to places with limited access to healthcare. To date, however, microfluidics has not yet been able to live up to these expectations. One non-negligible factor can be attributed to inaccessible prototyping methods for researchers in low-resource settings who are unable to afford expensive equipment and/or obtain critical reagents and, therefore, unable to engage and contribute to microfluidics research. In this paper, we present methods to create microfluidic devices that reduce initial costs from hundreds of thousands of dollars to about $6000 by using readily accessible consumables and inexpensive equipment. By including the scientific community most embedded and aware of the requirements of healthcare in developing countries, microfluidics will be able to increase its reach in the research community and be better informed to provide relevant solutions to global healthcare challenges.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | microfabrication; microfluidics; photolithography; soft embossing; soft lithography |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Mechanical Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Feb 2019 11:34 |
Last Modified: | 11 Feb 2019 11:34 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/mi9090461 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/mi9090461 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:139912 |