Last summer, I attempted to modify the surface of SU-8. The purpose of the experiment was to covalently bond poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) to SU-8, which would be useful when the SU-8 is used as a scaffold on the membranes. The method of surface modification was derived from the attached article, which can be found here. …
To determine whether cell proliferation is a function of membrane porosity and/or pore size, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured on various surfaces. The cells were seeded on low and high porosity membranes of 0.5 um and 3.0 um pore sizes. Non-porous membranes served as control membranes. All membranes were coated with Geltrex…
Overview: This experiment was conducted to compare the proliferation of adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) when grown in different medias. Two medias were used and each had different growth factors and serums. Only 0.5um low porosity membranes were used for this study. Data was collected on days 1, 2, 3, and 6, and was used to compare the…
When we coat surfaces or particles with proteins we often wonder, ‘how long until the coating is done? ‘ In this 2009 paper we addressed the question directly. We soaked 100 nm polystyrene particles in 10% serum (about 6 mg/ml protein) for different periods of time, washed the particles to remove unbound protein, soluablized the…
This week, I tried to make a large number of MgF2 nanomembranes for my collaboration with Kevin Webb. I wanted to keep the evaporated surface as pristine as possible, so instead of using the Kapton tape to attach the chips to the platen on its face, I used double sided kapton tape. Our reserves of…
The blue line reflects measurements taken with my zetapotential setup. Each data point is the average of three independent measurements of zetapotential (a new 3-slot SiN wafer 1024 chip for each measurement) and the linear fit for the pressure vs. streaming potential was at least R^2 > 0.92. Error bars come from the standard deviation…
Overview: This experiment was conducted to determine the difference in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) spreading on different membranes. The cells were grown on the membranes for a specified length of time and then stained and imaged to determine the amount of spread on the membranes. This study was a continuation of HUVEC Spreading on…
HI everyone, We continued working with Henry and Greg, gaining expertise on building chips and print-cutting channels. Right now we have a bunch of chips made, some have been tested, and we have completed one of our objectives : To produce chips for teaching. We also had our mask made and we will be…
Over the weekend, I resubmitted our adult Adipose-Derived Stem Cell (ADSC) paper titled: Membranes Promote Endothelial Differentiation of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells and Perivascular Interactions There were three main findings: 1.) ADSCs can be induced to express CD31 (PECAM-1) like endothelial cells. a.) Several prior studies used Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) at 50 ng/mL to…
SiMPore submitted a Phase I SBIR proposal to NSF for liftoff of microporous silicon oxide and nanoporous nitride. This is a resubmission of the NSF Nanomanufacturing proposal that Tom and Bob submitted last Oct. and just heard last week that it was declined. That proposal was liftoff of nanoporous membranes using inorganic scaffold materials. Several…