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

这项拨款为研究激光-气体-聚合物相互作用的基本现象提供了资金，目的是开发一种创新的生物芯片设备制造工艺，使高通量、基于器官型细胞的诊断成为可能。提出的研究结合了纳米/飞秒激光的处理能力和无溶剂气体发泡技术，在聚合物芯片上创建了大量小型化的三维组织工程支架。虽然将产生极局部的热量来形成多孔结构，但将采用精密激光加工来塑造支架和雕刻微流体通道。将进行理论和实验研究，以了解所提出的过程的机制，包括激光加热，烧蚀，气泡在气体浸渍聚合物中的成核和生长。为了研究激光加热和气泡形成过程中的非线性效应，建立了一个顺序耦合的数值模型。制备的装置的生物相容性研究也将进行。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致一种新的制造工艺来制造器官型微阵列，这可能为在药物筛选中使用动物和人类提供一个完全合乎道德的选择。目前的二维细胞培养条件产生的单层是体内细胞微环境的拙劣模拟。在这项研究中开发的制造工艺将使真实的三维组织类似物构建成一个大阵列，用于高通量，平行询问候选药物。提出的研究探索激光，聚合物和气泡之间的复杂相互作用。这项研究的发现将增加激光材料加工的科学知识基础，这是先进制造业的战略领域，有助于保持美国在世界上的领先地位。拟议的研究不仅将刺激科学发现，而且还将为学生培训和技术转让提供机会。

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.