Abstract
Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based microfluidic systems have been gaining popularity in various applications, particularly for biological analyses because of their non-toxicity, easy fabrication, practical scalability, optical transparency, and low cost. However, because of the inherent hydrophobicity of PDMS-based material, biological samples easily and strongly interact with PDMS surfaces in biological environments, which prevents the immediate use of PDMS-based microfluidics without any surface processing. To date, various surface modification methods and different materials have been utilized to improve the repelling properties of the PDMS surface and to introduce new functional groups. Based on the recent advances in this field, we outline the main strategies utilized in PDMS surface modification in this review. We also present several applications of modified PDMS surfaces in biological analysis, such as biomolecule separation, immunoassay, cell culture, and DNA hybridization.
About the authors
Qin Tu took her Masters and PhD studies with Professor Jinyi Wang at College of Science, Northwest A&F University from 2008 to the present. Her research focuses on the surface modification of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and its applications in microfluidics-based biological analysis, and synthesis of functionalized biomaterials and their applications in biological analysis.
Jian-Chun Wang received his BS in Biotechnology from Qingdao Agricultural University in 2008. He joined Professor Jinyi Wang’s research group at Northwest A&F University in the Fall of 2008 to pursue his PhD degree. His current research focuses on the design and fabrication of microfluidics for biomedical applications.
Jinyi Wang received his PhD in 2002 from Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China. After staying at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2002–2004) and University of California at Los Angeles (2004–2006) as a postdoctoral fellow, he joined Northwest A&F University (Yangling, China) as Professor. His current research interests include synthesis of functional nanomaterials and their applications in bioanalysis, microfluidics-and nanotechnology-based biosensors, as well as microfluidicsbased cell biology.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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