Cell Culture on MEMS Platforms: A Review

Microfabricated systems provide an excellent platform for the culture of cells, and are an extremely useful tool for the investigation of cellular responses to various stimuli. Advantages offered over traditional methods include cost-effectiveness, controllability, low volume, high resolution, and sensitivity. Both biocompatible and bioincompatible materials have been developed for use in these applications. Biocompatible materials such as PMMA or PLGA can be used directly for cell culture. However, for bioincompatible materials such as silicon or PDMS, additional steps need to be taken to render these materials more suitable for cell adhesion and maintenance. This review describes multiple surface modification strategies to improve the biocompatibility of MEMS materials. Basic concepts of cell-biomaterial interactions, such as protein adsorption and cell adhesion are covered. Finally, the applications of these MEMS materials in Tissue Engineering are presented.Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Singapore)Singapore. Biomedical Research CouncilSingapore. Agency for Science, Technology and ResearchSingapore. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (R-185-001-045-305)Singapore. Ministry of EducationSingapore. Ministry of Education (Grant R-185- 000-135-112)Singapore. National Medical Research CouncilSingapore. National Medical Research Council (Grant R-185-000-099-213)Jassen Cilag (Firm)Singapore-MIT Alliance (Computational and Systems Biology Flagship Project)Global Enterprise for Micro-Mechanics and Molecular Medicin

Application of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma for heating plastic materials

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is usually referred in literature as a form of cold plasma. Many applications of DBD plasma rely on this characteristic, which allow to treat also sensitive materials, including biological tissues, to exploit a range of different effects. Atmospheric pressure plasma treatment is regularly used on polymers to enhance surface properties such as wettability and adhesion. However, in the present work, we show that DBD plasma can also be used as an alternative for heating polymeric based materials, as an initial step for further industrial processing such as thermo-forming. In particular, the efficiency of the heating process has been measured, and a novel heating mechanism has been proposed based on the experimental result

METHOD TO MAKE A DECORATIVE ELEMENT WHICH CAN BE APPLIED ON SURFACES AND CORRESPONDING DECORATIVE ELEMENT

Method to make a decorative element which can be applied on surfaces, comprising a step (22, 26) of making a decorative layer (12) made of high quality materials, metal or non-metal, such as precious materials or precious or noble metals and their alloys on a support layer (11) in order to define a desired design or graphic motif, wherein at least a sub-step (22) is provided of depositing the high quality material by means of a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique chosen from a group comprising; heat evaporation, electronic beam evaporation, or magnetron sputtering

APPARECCHIATURA PER L'EROGAZIONE DI GELATO E/O SORBETTO E RELATIVO PROCEDIMENTO

Dispositivo per la vendita al dettagli di gelato sfuso

metodo per la realizzazione di un elemento decorativo applicabile su superfici e relativo elemento decorativo

Il presente trovato si riferisce ad un metodo decorativo di tipo temporaneo, quale ad esempio un tatuaggio, una decalcomania, o simili, applicabile su superfici quali ad esempio sulla pelle, nel caso di un tatuaggio, o su una superficie di un oggetto. In particolare l'elemento decorativo temporaneo \ue8 realizzato con materiali di pregio metallici, preferibilmente metalli nobili, o preziosi, o loro leghe, come ad esempio, ma non esclusivamente, oro, platino, palladio, argento, leghe oro-rame, oro-argento, oro-platino, argento-palladio o simili, oppure materiali non metallici come diamond-like carbon

Design and testing of a 5-degrees-of-freedom, large working range micropositioning stage

This paper discloses the design principles of a compact 5-degrees of freedom piezoelectric micropositioning stage. The presented system exhibits the capability of generating large displacements, while maintaining a simple and modular structure. Due to a double-stage mechanical amplification strategy of the displacements generated by the piezoelectric actuators, the driving voltages can be kept low while reaching the desired performances in terms of amplitude of the working volume, thus allowing for the use of low-cost electronics. Experiments conducted to assess the static performances of a prototype device are in good agreement with the theoretical models. Possible applications include micromachining, micromanipulation and other positioning tasks in scientific instrumentation

A non-time based force control system for CNC applications

In this work, an innovative force control module is presented, which can be employed in CNC end milling machines in order to maintain a constant cutting force in the presence of parametric uncertainty for a time varying end milling process. The controller is a non-time based one; in fact, the desired tool position reference is delayed according to the integral of a proper function related to the on-line cutting force measurement. Such a controller, which is referred to as delayed reference control (DRC), consists in a outer force feedback loop around an inner position feedback loop. Two main advantages make this controller suitable for a commercial diffusion: it avoids complicate and time consuming algorithms for re-planning the path in response to cutting force and it does not require to design a new position feedback loop. Good experimental results are obtained by implementing the controller on a wood milling machine prototype. The system has shown a remarkable robustness in terms of immunity to the mechanical and electrical noise, working properly also with unfiltered control signals

Static and Vibration Analyses of a Three-Dimensional Snake-Like Micropositioning Stage

This paper presets a 3 degrees of freedom (dof) piezoelectric micropositioning stage. The stage is composed of a stack of piezo disk bender actuators actuated in such a way to prevent the end-effector from rotating; this way the end-effector can only translate along the x, y, and z axis. Thanks to its snake-like configuration, the system is capable of large displacements (of the order of 50 \u3bcm) with low driving voltages (of the order of 100V). Several lumped-mass static and dynamic models of the device have been implemented. Static experimental results, which are in agreement with simulation data, confirmed the performances of the device. A dynamic model showed the natural frequencies of the mechanism . Also dynamic tests have been conducted in order to validate the dynamic model