RAPID PROTOTYPING OF MICROFLUIDIC CHANNELS USING 3D-PRINTER FOR DENSITY BASED ANALYSIS OF MICROPARTICLES IN A MAGNETIC LEVITATION PLATFORM

Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) is employed to levitate particles or cells within a paramagnetic medium that is introduced into a microcapillary positioned between two opposing magnets (1,2).Microparticles are levitated until the balancing of magnetic and buoyancy forces at a specific height proportional to their densities (3).Hence, MagLev principles were used to analyze the density of particles/cells by monitoring levitation heights.Furthermore, density-based sorting of cells was conducted under a flow using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic chip (4).However, the PDMS chip necessitated lengthy and expensive photolithography steps for mold fabrication, potentially impeding design adjustments for various applications.Since achieving a small separation distance (<2.5 mm) between magnets is crucial for effectively levitating particles, fabricating small microfluidic chips that can fit within this gap presents a significant challenge.Hence, there is a critical demand for a rapid, cost-effective, precise, and user-friendly strategy to fabricate microfluidic chips tailored for magnetic levitation-based cell separation techniques.In this study, we employed stereolithographic 3D printing to create compact microfluidic devices designed to fit between magnets.Subsequently, resin treatment was applied to enhance the optical properties of these devices.Through this approach, we successfully achieved small 3D printed microfluidic devices with improved optical characteristics, enabling the analysis of magnetic levitation profiles for microparticles/cells.