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Nano-porous Lift-off Mini-update
New Lift-off setup, thanks to suggestions and concerns about flatness of the membrane after lift-off. Floating SU8 – SiN membrane with superstructure submerged. Membrane after removal from water Membrane, dry on first version of lift-off super structure. Membrane after separation. SiN has adhered to the superstructure and the SU8 peeled off the top. The…
Are all fields created equal?
I’ve always wondered what the variability was in the pore statistics extracted from TEM images of different fields on the same membrane (SC 141). I took a series of ten images from random positions (corners, edges, center) and ran them through the pore processor. Here are the results: (images taken at 100 kx) position porosity…
Surface-Specific Thermoresponsive Coatings of Membranes
Cody Soule (MS student) developed/applied a protocol to functionalize the surface of a silicon oxide membrane. The process selectively attaches PNIPAM to the surface of the membrane, maintaining the pore characteristics unchanged. PNIPAM undergoes a configuration transition when going from 37C to RT, from collapsed to extended. It has been previously used to lift-off confluent…
Discoloration – loose ends & ground up wafer
There were some ideas being thrown around a couple weeks ago about discoloration results. I tested a couple of them out last week. These experiments were with w615 pieces, in the 37C oven in serum-free DMEM. I tested if vacuum grease or nailpolish would cause discoloration, I repeated the membrane up vs. down experiments that…
Conditioned DMEM – re-try
Last week, I did a couple experiments based on a suggestion by Tom. The pH of DMEM starts out quite high and then buffers down into physiologic range after some time in the incubator. Tom surmised that a short exposure of the chips to high DMEM pH might hasten discoloration. To test this out, I…
Incorporating a ECM hydrogel into an in vitro microvasculature system
ByLeslieFor the past month, I have been working along with Tejas towards incorporating an ECM-like hydrogel into the back (edged side) of a pnc-Si chip. The purpose of this effort is to add another layer of complexity to Tejas’ in vitro microvasculature system, in order to study neutrophil migration across the endothelium. We first pondered…