Unrivalled performances

  • Rapid prototyping of microchips thanks to maskless photolithography
  • Precise alignment of patterns with already existing structures to create multi-layer microfabrication
  • Organ-on-chip production

Rapid prototyping of microchips thanks to maskless photolithography

The PRIMO on-demand UV projection system is a powerful tool for fast-prototyping of microchips. With its highly flexible capacity, it is possible to craft new molds on a daily basis and use them as templates to create PDMS structures into which liquids or hydrogels can be flowed.

The examples down below shows some chips designs with central and adjacent channels, and final PDMS chips made with PRIMO.

Optimization of the chip design and final PDMS chip. App Notes, B. Souquet et al., 2019.
PDMS microfluidic chip made from a SU8 mold.
Photograph of fabricated chip showing fluidic isolation as evident by the blue and red food dyes. White scale bars: 100 µm. Yellow scale bar: 1000 µm.

Precise alignment of patterns with already existing structures to create multi-layer microfabrication

PRIMO’s dedicated software (Leonardo) allows a precise positioning of the second virtual mask on the first one using the camera view and landmarks. This makes possible the creation of complex multi-levels microfluidic chip. Moreover, the auto-stitching feature of PRIMO enables the generation of large and continuous microstructures.

For instance, a team managed to fabricate a compartimentalized 2-levels organ-on-a-chip device. They created two large cell culture compartments separated by perpendicular microchannels of a different height. This chip appears as a perfect model for fluidic isolation of two independent cell-culture compartment and for brain-on-chip studies.

Multi-level SU-8 microstructures to fabricate microfluidic chips with channels of different heights. D. Kasi et al., Micromachines, 2021.

Organ-on-chip production

PDMS-based microfluidic chips can easily be designed and adjusted thanks to PRIMO, then the cells can be injected in the desire compartments. The whole workflow enables the creation of complex organ-on-chips.

Here, they managed to quickly prototype and fabricate of a bone-marrow-on-a-chip as described below. This in turn allowed the monitoring of HSPCs in contact with mesenchymal stem cells in 3D hydrogels.

Bone-marrow-on-a-chip allows the monitoring of HSPCs in contact with mesenchymal stem cells in 3D hydrogels. (A) Plan of the microfluidic chip: it comprises the endosteal (2) and the vascular (4) compartments, the HSPC injection channel (3), the cytokine-secreting fibroblast compartment (5), and channels for medium circulation (1 and 6). The inset describes the organization of the central channels loaded with cells. (B) Left: Transmitted light image of the three central channels. Right: Colorized individual trajectories of HSPCs during a time-lapse sequence. Scale bar = 200 μm.
Maximum projection of 10-μmwide Z stack confocal images of HSPCs in the endosteal (upper panel) and vascular (lower panel) compartments. HSPCs (CD34+) appear in green, actin structures in red, DNA in blue, and centrosomes in white. Scale bar = 10 μm. (D) Selected Z stacks of HSPCs in the endosteal and vascular compartments are presented in the upper and lower panel, respectively. The HSPC centrosome can be defined relative to the point of contact of the HSPC with the osteoblast or endothelial cell (marked with a white arrow) as proximal (left), in an intermediate position (middle), or distal (right). Actin appears in green, centrosome in white, and DNA in blue. Scale bar = 10 μm. Journal of cell Biology, T.Bessy et al., 2021.

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  • Ce champ n’est utilisé qu’à des fins de validation et devrait rester inchangé.