Microfluidic technology has been extensively used for efficient manipulation of fluids in a microscale for energy, biomedical research, environmental monitoring, and analytical chemistry. The control of flow in microchannels is crucial in many fluid mechanic applications, such as molecular diagnostics, cell sorting and separation, fluid mixing, and cell adhesion and culture. The flow rate may need to be accurately quantified as it may lead to size variation in the products.
Also, having access to a miniaturized system that can perform selective manipulation of biophysical and biochemical properties of liquids in microchannels while enabling non-contact sensing exceeding the available market sensitivity even for non-transparent mediums is an urgent need of many lab-on-a-chip platforms. We have enabled proper integration of microfluidics with long-lasting and sensitive microwaves to bring both worlds of sensitivity and selectivity into one single chip.
The researchers at the University of Calgary have developed a non-contact and real-time sensing apparatus and method for measuring the physical and chemical characteristics of fluid within microfluidic channels.
AREAS OF APPLICATION
- Energy
- Polymer and material design and synthesis
- Water quality monitoring
- Biomedical engineering, applications like bacteria identification, antibiotic susceptibility testing, tissue engineering, in vitro diagnostics, controlled flow of nutrient and serum injection into the human body, and smart wearable sensing.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
- A noncontact and nonintrusive microwave microfluidic sensor
- Planar sensing structure compatible with planar microfluidic systems
- Unique designs allow for optimum monitoring characteristics of the fluid
- Applications cover a wide range of sensing such as ionic properties, molecule or particle concentration, and composition and flow for gas and liquid
- Used to measure the fluid properties (flow rate, viscosity, density, composition) within the microchannels in real-time
STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
- The technology is available for licensing
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- US patent application filed
- Researcher profile: Dr. Amir Sanati Nezhad
PUBLICATIONS
- Zarifi, M. H., Sadabadi, H., Hejazi, S. H., Daneshmand, M. & Sanati-Nezhad, A. Noncontact and nonintrusive microwave-microFuidic Flow sensor for energy and biomedical engineering. Sci. Rep.-UK 8(1), 139 (2018)
- Z. Abbasi, M. Baghelani, M. Nosrati, A. Sanati-Nezhad, and M. Daneshmand, “Real-Time Non-Contact Integrated Chipless RF Sensor for Disposable Microfluidic Applications,”IEEE J. Electromagn. RF Microwaves Med. Biol., 2019.