Effect of temperature and flow rate on the cell-free area in the microfluidic channel

Blood cell manipulation in microdevices is an interesting task for the separation of particles, by their size, density, or to remove them from the buffer, in which they are suspended, for further analysis, and more. This study highlights the cell-free area (CFA) widening based on experimental results of red blood cell (RBC) flow, suspended in a microfluidic device, while temperature and flow rate incrementally modify RBC response within the microflow. Studies of human red blood cell flow, at a concentration of 20%, suspended in its autologous plasma and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer, were carried out at a wide flow rate, varying between 10 and 230 µL/min and a temperature range of 23 ◦C to 50 ◦C. The plotted measures show an increment in a CFA near the channel wall due to cell flow inertia after a constricted channel, which becomes more significant as temperature and flow rate increase. The temperature increment widened the CFA up to three times. In comparison, flow rate increment increased the CFA up to 20 times in PBS and 11 times in plasma

Aprenentatge basat en projectes en l’àrea d’electrònica per a Enginyers Biomèdics

Projecte: 2014PID-UB/076Actualment els estudiants d’Enginyeria Biomèdica realitzen pràctiques típiques d’electrònica en els seus estudis, similars a les que es realitzen en altres ensenyaments. Segons l’opinió dels estudiants aquest tipus de pràctiques són molt poc motivadores doncs, no veuen l’aplicació directa als seus estudis. La proposta és aplicar la metodologia basada en projectes per a la realització de les pràctiques en el grau d’Enginyeria Biomèdica en les dues assignatures: Electrònica Aplicada i "Biomedical Instruments and Equipment". D’aquesta forma els alumnes hauran de realitzar un projecte d’electrònica aplicat a l’Enginyeria Biomèdica. Els alumnes a més d’estar més motivats adquiriran competències en la realització d’un projecte, és a dir, mitjançant l’aprenentatge basat en projectes els estudiants podran adquirir competències professionals que són difícils de treballar amb metodologies convencionals. Algunes d’aquestes competències són les propostes per la UB com a competències transversals i els seran molt útils en el seu Treball Fi de Grau i en el seu futur desenvolupament professional

Portable Bio-Devices: Design of Electrochemical Instruments from Miniaturized to Implantable Devices

The integration of biosensors and electronic technologies allows the development of biomedical systems able to diagnose and monitoring pathologies by detecting specific biomarkers. The chapter presents the main modules involved in the development of such devices, generically represented in Fig. 1, and focuses its attention on the essential components of these systems to address questions such as: how is the device powered? How does it communicate the measured data? What kind of sensors could be used?, and What kinds of electronics are used

Teragnosis in vivo: Innovación nanomédica fomentada por la convergencia de tecnologías emergentes

El creciente desarrollo y la mejora en cuanto a innovación de dispositivos basados en la convergencia de tecnologías emergentes ha dado lugar a un uso cada vez mayor de los nanosensores en la comunidad biomédica. Sin embargo, los nanosensores implantables aún tienen que afrontar ciertos retos como la biocompatibilidad y la seguridad de datos. En este artículo se abordan el progreso y los principales desafíos para esta clase de dispositivos nanomédicos y se analizan además las principales aplicaciones médicas con especial énfasis en la teragnosis, término que integra el concepto de diagnosis y terapia en un mismo dispositivo. De este modo, se traza el proceso desde la investigación aplicada hasta la comercialización del producto, que es cuando el retorno social puede ser estimado. Finalmente, se contempla la gestión de la tecnología dentro de un ecosistema de innovación, cuya cadena de valor incluye una integración multidisciplinaria y el flujo del conocimiento

Mejora de la implicación del alumnado en “Diseño y síntesis de sistemas digitales” usando e-learning colaborativo, gamificación y aprendizaje basado en problemas

[eng] During the last 3 years, it has been observed that the students do not have a solid base to understand the concepts that are introduced in the subject. In addition, the attitude of the students, in general, is negligence, do not review concepts to prepare the subject, do not prepare laboratory practices and stop attending class. This results in a high dropout rate, fear of doing the subject and discomfort with the teaching staff. To solve this problem, we apply the teaching innovation presented in this article. Such innovation takes advantage of teaching strategies such as gamification or problem-based learning, uses virtual tools to motivate e-learning and collaboration with other students. The results, to date, are satisfactory since they reduce the dropout rate and increase the number of students who assimilate the concepts introduced in the subje[spa] Durante los últimos 3 años se ha observado que el alumnado no tiene una base sólida para entender los conceptos que se introducen en la asignatura. Además, la actitud de los alumnos, en general, es de dejadez, no repasan conceptos para preparar la asignatura, no se preparan las prácticas de laboratorio y dejan de asistir a las clases presenciales. Dando como resultado una alta tasa de abandono, miedo a realizar la asignatura y malestar con el profesorado. Para resolver esta problemática, se aplica la innovación docente presentada en este artículo. Dicha innovación saca beneficio de estratégias docentes como la gamificación o el aprendizaje basado en problemas, usa herramientas virtuales para motivar el “e-learning” y la colaboración con el resto de estudiantes. Los resultados, hasta la fecha, son satisfactorios dado que reducen la tasa de abandono e incrementan el número de estudiantes que asimilan los conceptos introducidos en la asignatura.Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el “Programa de Millora I Innovació Docent” (PMID) y el grupo de innovación docente IDEES del Departamento de Ingenieria: Sección Electrónica, ambos perteneces a la Universitat de Barcelon

Millora de la implicació de l’alumne en Disseny i Síntesis de Sistemes Digitals fent ús d’eines d’avaluació continuada i debats en grup

Projecte: 2016PID-UB/013Durante los últimos 3 años se ha observado que el alumnado no tiene una base sólida para entender los conceptos que se introducen en la asignatura. Además, la actitud de los alumnos, en general, es de dejadez, no repasan conceptos para preparar la asignatura, no se preparan las prácticas de laboratorio y dejan de asistir a las clases presenciales. Dando como resultado una alta tasa de abandono, miedo a realizar la asignatura y malestar con el profesorado. Para resolver esta problemática, se aplica la innovación docente presentada en este artículo. Dicha innovación saca beneficio de estrategias docentes como la gamificación o el aprendizaje basado en problemas, usa herramientas virtuales para motivar el “e-learning” y la colaboración con el resto de estudiantes. Los resultados, hasta la fecha, son satisfactorios dado que reducen la tasa de abandono e incrementan el número de estudiantes que asimilan los conceptos introducidos en la asignatura.Programa d'Innovació i Millora de l'Aprenentatge - 2016PID-UB/01

Self-Powered Portable Electronic Reader for Point-of-Care Amperometric Measurements

In this work, we present a self-powered electronic reader (e-reader) for point-of-care diagnostics based on the use of a fuel cell (FC) which works as a power source and as a sensor. The self-powered e-reader extracts the energy from the FC to supply the electronic components concomitantly, while performing the detection of the fuel concentration. The designed electronics rely on straightforward standards for low power consumption, resulting in a robust and low power device without needing an external power source. Besides, the custom electronic instrumentation platform can process and display fuel concentration without requiring any type of laboratory equipment. In this study, we present the electronics system in detail and describe all modules that make up the system. Furthermore, we validate the device's operation with different emulated FCs and sensors presented in the literature. The e-reader can be adjusted to numerous current ranges up to 3 mA, with a 13 nA resolution and an uncertainty of 1.8%. Besides, it only consumes 900 µW in the low power mode of operation, and it can operate with a minimum voltage of 330 mV. This concept can be extended to a wide range of fields, from biomedical to environmental applications

Design of a Customized multipurpose nano-enabled implantable system for in-vivo theranostics

The first part of this paper reviews the current development and key issues on implantable multi-sensor devices for in vivo theranostics. Afterwards, the authors propose an innovative biomedical multisensory system for in vivo biomarker monitoring that could be suitable for customized theranostics applications. At this point, findings suggest that cross-cutting Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) could improve the overall performance of the system given that the convergence of technologies in nanotechnology, biotechnology, micro&nanoelectronics and advanced materials permit the development of new medical devices of small dimensions, using biocompatible materials, and embedding reliable and targeted biosensors, high speed data communication, and even energy autonomy. Therefore, this article deals with new research and market challenges of implantable sensor devices, from the point of view of the pervasive system, and time-to-market. The remote clinical monitoring approach introduced in this paper could be based on an array of biosensors to extract information from the patient. A key contribution of the authors is that the general architecture introduced in this paper would require minor modifications for the final customized bio-implantable medical device

Electrochemical Instrumentation of an Embedded Potentiostat System (EPS) for a Programmable-System-On-a-Chip

Under the main features required on portable devices in electrochemical instrumentation is to have a small size, low power consumption, economically affordable and precision in the measurements. This paper describes the development of a programmable Embedded Potentiostat System (EPS) capable of performing electrochemical sensing over system-on-a-chip platforms. Furthermore, the study explains a circuit design and develops some validation of the entire system. The hardware validation is performed by electrochemical experiments such as Double Step Chronoamperometry (DSC), Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV); moreover, a comparison of the experimental signals between a commercial potentiostat and the EPS was done by analysis of errors on the response signal. Results illustrate that the EPS is capable of handling currents in the range of absolute values of 86.44 to 3000 nA and having control voltages in the range of ± 2 V. The device can support from 50 to 2000 samples per second. The EPS capabilities were compared with other compact potentiostats. The programmable EPS is an original approach which hugely reduces the hardware complexity and leads the way to create new applications for Point-of-Care or industrial developments with a reusable full electronics module

Competitive USB-Powered Hand-Held Potentiostat for POC Applications: An HRP Detection Case

Considerable efforts are made to develop Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostic tests. POC devices have the potential to match or surpass conventional systems regarding time, accuracy, and cost, and they are significantly easier to operate by or close to the patient. This strongly depends on the availability of miniaturized measurement equipment able to provide a fast and sensitive response. This paper presents a low-cost, portable, miniaturized USB-powered potentiostat for electrochemical analysis, which has been designed, fabricated, characterized, and tested against three forms of high-cost commercial equipment. The portable platform has a final size of 10.5 × 5.8 × 2.5 cm, a weight of 41 g, and an approximate manufacturing cost of $85 USD. It includes three main components: the power module which generates a stable voltage and a negative supply, the front-end module that comprises a dual-supply potentiostat, and the back-end module, composed of a microcontroller unit and a LabVIEW-based graphic user interface, granting plug-and-play and easy-to-use operation on any computer. The performance of this prototype was evaluated by detecting chronoamperometrically horseradish peroxidase (HRP), the enzymatic label most widely used in electrochemical biosensors. As will be shown, the miniaturized platform detected HRP at concentrations ranging from 0.01 ng·mL−1 to 1 µg·mL−1, with results comparable to those obtained with the three commercial electrochemical system