Evaluation of optical properties and biocompatibility of polymer materials for microfluidic applications

Microfluidic technologies have become increasingly effective for diagnostic, physiological, and biochemical applications. The biocompatibility of MEMS devices, which are evolving rapidly in their practicality, has become the paramount property to investigate and optimize through biological and optical testing. Potential applications comprise cell culture, biosensing, immunoisolation, bioparticle sorting, and biomaterial synthesis. In this work we undertake the study of various polymer and nanocomposite materials, such as cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), SU-8, polycarbonate (PC) and polystyrene (PS). After the polymer is adequately functionalized, tagged antibodies are attached to the polymer films and, then, the corresponding antigens are brought in contact with the antibodies. The work is novel and complements the contemporary research involving other methods to evaluate the biocompatibility, such as for example, cell culture. The affinity of antibodies toward the polymer is evaluated by the amount of attached antibodies measured by fluorescence spectroscopy.