The Gaborski lab has been working with Blanca’s lab performing some scoping tests w/ SiN and SiOx microporous membranes. The aim is obtain proof of concept results regarding the efficacy of using a microporous membrane to trap sub-micron particles with…
Category: NRG
Evidence of ElectroOsmotic Flow in Nano-Membrane Devices
Fluorescent beads were employed to assess electroosmotic flow in various devices. The beads were 200 nm in size and were negatively charged (on account of being carboxylated polystyrene). These beads were suspended in a 0.2 mM K2HPO4 buffer. They were…
Posted in NRG
n-Dodecyl β-D-Maltoside Coating on PDMS
Today I performed a coating of n-Dodecyl β-D-Maltoside (“DDM”) on PDMS in an attempt to block protein adsorption (reference). The reference describes two different procedures, one in which the protein being incubated on the PDMS surface is in solution with…
Posted in NRG
New laptop for the TECAN and DLS is finally hooked up
Over the past few days Josh and I installed windows 7, windows office suite, Malvern’s Zetasizer software (available online), Tecan’s I-control software (available in the 3-ring binder in the glass cabinet above the machines), and chrome onto the new(er) laptop…
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Permeance and Hydraulic Permeability of ~500 nm pores in 5-slot chips
Permeance Testing Sepcons were built with 500 nm 5-slot chips. Permeance tests were performed on Samples A-C. Nitrogen gas was pushed through the membrane at a given pressure, and the height on the flow meter tube (green graduated column pictured…
Comparative Single-Well CytoVu Images
After experimenting with some different coatings and membrane types in single-well CytoVu devices, here are some representative images of the results: SiN (Nitride) membrane with a Geltrex non-gel coating @ 44hr: 10x: 20x: 40x: SiO2 (Oxide) membrane with a Geltrex…
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Contact angles on EA treated pncSi
I etched 12 pncSi chips and gave it to Chris for EA treatment. I wanted to test 3 storage conditions: gel pack, vacuum container, and water, for total of 4 days including the day of coating as day zero. Unfortunately…
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E-beam Deposition of Ag, Cold ALD Runs, and Sepcon Assembly For Making a Nanofluidic Transistor
Last week I conducted a variety of experiments to try to make a nanofluidic transistor (a device described in detail in this previous journal club post). I did some light optimization of the E-beam deposition of Ag films over a 3nm…
Posted in NRG Tagged with: 100C ALD, 5 nm gold, Ag film, Dynamically Modulate Surface Charge, Nanofluidic transistor
PEGylation of Coverslips and Chips
I’ve taken fluorescence measurements with the fluorescence microscope on PEGylated and unPEGylated glass coverslips and SiN chips. Six coverslips and six chips were prepared. Samples were treated exactly the same, save for the fact that half the samples had PEG…
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Fluorosphere separations with SiN-NP SEPCONS
Karl and I attempted once again to filter particles with the SiN-NP 5 slot SEPCON chips. (wafer # 1019, 27% porosity, avg. pore dia. – 54 nm in the center, 30%, 61 nm at the perimeter, histograms below) We…
Posted in NRG
