Advanced Biomicrofluidics Support (ABS) at LiMe
The Shintaku Lab helps clinical medicine, basic life sciences, and engineering researchers solve their research problems by leveraging our microfluidics expertise.
We share our facilities for microfabrication, optical-microscopy, and molecular biology with academic researchers. Here are some examples of sharing devices.
-Software: micro-manager
-Bright-field imaging (565 nm)
-Epi-fluorescence microscopy
-Camera: Andor Sona
-Thorlabs LEDs (365, 455, 470, 565, 625 nm)
-Confocal microscopy (spinning disc type, CSU-X1)
-Camera: Andor iXon
-Laser wavelength: 405, 488, 561, 640 nm
-XYZ stage
-Stage top incubator (CO2, humidified)
-Software: micro-manager
-Bright-field imaging (565 nm)
-Epi-fluorescence microscopy
-Camera: ORCA-Flash2.8
-Thorlabs LEDs (365, 470, 565, 625 nm)
-XY stage
-Stage top incubator
Photolithography
We support the fabrication of SU-8 molds for PDMS microfluidic devices by designing CAD, ordering photomasks, fabricating SU-8 molds, and replica molding PDMS superstructures.
We have in-house photolithography equipment for the exposure at 365 and 410 nm wavelengths.
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-Abdelmoez et al. Genome Biol 2018, Oguchi et al. Sci Adv 2021
CAD file for lithography
Microfluidic droplet station on Olympus IX71
-Liquid-liquid two-phase flow with pressure-based microfluidic control
-Droplet/hydrogel beads production with microfluidic emulsification (Shintaku et al. Microsyst Technol 2007, Tsuchida et al. LabChip 2024)
-Bright-field imaging (white)
-Stage top incubator
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3D printer (Form3, FormLab)
Stereolithography
Printing resolution
-xy: 25 µm
-z: 25 µm
Available resin
-Standard (clear, grey): Useful to fabricate a jig.
-High Temp: High-temperature resistance (up to 240ËšC). Useful to fabricate PDMS molds.
Electrokinetics
We have expertise in developing electrokinetic approaches (Shintaku et al. Anal Chem 2014, Abdelmoez et al. Anal Chem 2020) to manipulate cells and biomolecules. We have various voltage supplies such as High voltage sequencers (LabSmith), Source meters (Keithley), and in-house devices.
We support flow diagnosis with particle image velocimetry (PIV) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) (Shintaku et al. Angew Chem 2014, JFST 2009).
Research outcomes