Collaborative Research: Nano-/femtosecond Laser Processing of Gas Impregnated Polymer for Biomedical Applications

合作研究：用于生物医学应用的气体浸渍聚合物的纳秒/飞秒激光加工

• 批准号: 1130894
• 负责人: Shaochen Chen
• 金额: $ 21.99万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1130894&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Nano; femtosecond; Laser

This grant provides funding to study fundamental phenomena of laser-gas-polymer interaction, with a goal to develop an innovative fabrication process for biochip devices that will enable high-throughput, organotypic cell-based diagnostics. The proposed research combines the processing capability of nano-/femtosecond lasers and a solvent-free gas foaming technique to create a large array of miniaturized three-dimensional tissue engineering scaffolds on a polymer chip. While extremely localized heat will be generated to create the porous structure, precision laser machining will be employed to shape the scaffolds and engrave microfluidic channels. Both theoretical and experimental studies will be conducted to understand the mechanisms of the proposed process, including laser heating, ablation, and bubble nucleation and growth in gas impregnated polymer. A sequentially coupled numerical model will be developed to study the nonlinear effects in the laser heating and bubble formation process. A biocompatibility study of the fabricated device will also be conducted. If successful, the results of this research will lead to a novel manufacturing process to create organotypic microarrays that could offer a completely ethical alternative to using animals and humans in drug screening. Current two-dimensional cell culture conditions yield monolayers that are poor mimics of the in vivo cellular microenvironment. The fabrication process developed in this research will enable realistic three-dimensional tissue analogs built into a large array for high throughput, parallel interrogation of drug candidates. The proposed research explores complex interaction among laser, polymer, and gas bubbles. Findings of this research will add to the scientific knowledge base in laser material processing, a strategic area in advanced manufacturing that helps maintain the US leading position in the world. The proposed research will not only stimulate scientific discovery, but also provide opportunities for student training and technology transfer.

该赠款提供了研究激光 - 聚合物相互作用的基本现象的资金，其目标是为生物芯片设备开发创新的制造过程，该工艺将实现高通量，基于器官的细胞诊断。提出的研究结合了纳米/飞秒激光器的加工能力和一种无溶剂的气体泡沫技术，以在聚合物芯片上创建大量的小型三维组织工程脚手架。虽然将产生极其局部的热量来创建多孔结构，但将采用精确激光加工来塑造脚手架和雕刻微流体通道。将进行理论和实验研究，以了解拟议过程的机制，包括激光加热，消融和气泡成核以及气体浸渍聚合物的生长。将开发一个依次耦合的数值模型来研究激光加热和气泡形成过程中的非线性效应。还将对制造设备进行生物相容性研究。如果成功的话，这项研究的结果将导致一个新的制造过程，以创建器官型微阵列，这可以为在药物筛查中使用动物和人类提供完全道德的替代方法。当前的二维细胞培养条件产生的单层是体内细胞微环境的模仿不良的单层。在这项研究中开发的制造过程将使内置在大型阵列中的现实三维组织类似物，用于对药物候选物的高吞吐量，平行的询问。拟议的研究探讨了激光，聚合物和气泡之间的复杂相互作用。这项研究的结果将增加激光材料加工的科学知识基础，这是一个高级制造业的战略领域，有助于维持美国在世界上的领先地位。拟议的研究不仅会刺激科学发现，而且还为学生培训和技术转移提供了机会。