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SEBS elastomers for fabrication of microfluidic devices with reduced drug absorption by injection molding and extrusion

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Abstract

The majority of microfluidic devices used for cell culture, including Organ-on-a-Chips (Organ Chips), are fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer because it is flexible, optically clear, and easy to mold. However, PDMS possesses significant challenges for high volume manufacturing and its tendency to absorb small hydrophobic compounds limits its usefulness as a material in devices used for drug evaluation studies. Here, we demonstrate that a subset of optically clear, elastomeric, styrenic block copolymers based on styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene exhibit reduced absorption of small hydrophobic molecules and drug compounds compared to PDMS and that they can be fabricated into microfluidic devices with fine features and the flexibility required for Organ Chips using mass production techniques of injection molding and extrusion.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF-12-2-0036. The content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of DARPA or the US Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred. We also thank the Organ Chips teams at both the Wyss Institute and Emulate Inc. for their input.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Karel Domansky

    Present address: , 1600 43rd Avenue East, Unit 310, Seattle, WA, 98112, USA

  2. Josiah D. Sliz, Norman Wen, Christopher Hinojosa, Guy Thompson II, Jacob P. Fraser, Geraldine A. Hamilton & Daniel Levner

    Present address: Emulate, Inc., 27 Drydock Ave, Boston, MA, 02210, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, 3 Blackfan Circle, CLSB5, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Karel Domansky, Josiah D. Sliz, Norman Wen, Christopher Hinojosa, Guy Thompson II, Jacob P. Fraser, Tiama Hamkins-Indik, Geraldine A. Hamilton, Daniel Levner & Donald E. Ingber

  2. Vascular Biology Program and Departments of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Donald E. Ingber

  3. Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Donald E. Ingber

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  1. Karel Domansky
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Contributions

K.D. designed and executed most of the experiments under the supervision of D.E.I., with the exception of the quantitative compound loss study in Table 1, which was done at Emulate Inc. by J.D.S. with input from G.A.H. and D.L.; J.P.F. and T.H.I. provided technical assistance in the cell culture studies; N.W. performed the optical transmittance characterization; K.D., C.H., and G.T. contributed to the design and development of the 3-layer microfluidic and the SEBS prototype manufacturing methods; K.D. and D.E.I. prepared the manuscript with input from other co-authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donald E. Ingber.

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Conflict of interest

D.E.I. holds equity in Emulate, Inc. and chairs its scientific advisory board. G.A.H., D.L., J.D.S., N.W., C.H., and G.T. are all currently employees of Emulate Inc.

Additional information

Karel Domansky and Josiah D. Sliz are joint first authors.

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Domansky, K., Sliz, J.D., Wen, N. et al. SEBS elastomers for fabrication of microfluidic devices with reduced drug absorption by injection molding and extrusion. Microfluid Nanofluid 21, 107 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-017-1941-4

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