Facilities

Prototyping Facilities

The MDDC facilities are currently located within the Biomedical Engineering Department at Rutgers Univeristy, on Busch Campus. Currently our facility contains equipment for the following services.

Microprototyping Facilities

MDDC's microfabrication facility is a micro and nano-technology resource center focused primarily upon specification, development and testing of devices suitable for biological materials ranging from proteins to whole cells. We work collaboratively with industrial and academic research teams to secure grants, design suitable devices, independently verify efficacy of such designs and train the next generation research force in this exciting area of technology. Researchers can avail themselves of leading edge expertise while working in our laboratories and enter into productive partnerships that further the state of the art.

We currently have the equipment to perform a wide range of processes including: optical and soft lithography, nano imprint lithography, rapid prototyping, surface engineering and characterization, microfluidics, macro-to-micro coupling, deep reactive ion etching, metallization, and bonding. In addition, we have a Nano eNabler system that can dispense arrays of atto- to femtoliter liquid samples.

Research projects currently ongoing in the facility include the development of various "lab-on-a-chip" systems. For example, in clinical applications, we are making microfluidic immunosensor assays to continuously monitor blood or cerebro-spinal fluid for inflammation markers in septic patients, and designing a continuous microdialysis-based blood protein extraction system for monitoring inflammatory responses after cardiac surgery. For laboratory applications, we are developing a microfluidic device for purification and analysis of DNA, thus miniaturizing the phenol extraction protocol.