We Are Here To Help!
Collaboration and service projects with the Center serve serval roles and are a major mission associated with all Biotechnology Resource Centers. These roles include: (1) dissemination of Center technologies to the biomedical community; (2) maximize funding potential for both the Center and external researchers; and (3) enhance visibility of all parties. We are particularly adept at multidisciplinary work and look forward to helping you with your research needs.
Our major thrust is in the area of developing new and innovative microfluidic devices for the analysis of Liquid Biopsy markers such as searching for rare cells in blood samples (for example, circulating tumor cells, CTCs), affinity selection of exosomes, and/or the solid-phase extraction of cell free DNA from plasma. Inspection of some of our papers (see Diffusion pulldown tab in the Center website and look under papers for a listing of our publications) will give you an idea of the type of devices we have built and their specific applications.
The Center also has access to a variety of microfabrication tools that can be used to assist researchers in developing new platforms for a variety of application areas. Our expertise in microfabrication is working with plastics, such as PMMA, polycarbonate and COC, using hot embossing or injection molding. We also have access to a variety of rapid prototyping tools, such as laser ablation and high precision micromilling. We can also process other materials, such as silicon and glass as well as make reliefs for PDMS. Please let us know if you have questions along these lines.
Our collaboration and service projects can be of the biomedical/clinical type, where we assist researchers by developing new assays for the analysis of certain biomarkers of interest to the particular researcher or mobilizing our new tools to assist researchers. These collaborations can be purely consultation, visiting our Center to see firsthand how to use our tools for biomedical applications or sending samples to our Center for analysis. On the microfabrication side, we can either help you in the design of devices, the fabrication of devices through service work or the testing of existing devices we have built and adapted for your particular application need. We have initiated a program in nanofluidics that uses channels with dimensions less than 100 nm and would be happy to discuss with you collaboration projects that involve nanofluidic applications (see our recent review paper on this topical area; Lab Chip, 17 (2017) 362-381 (DOI: 10.1039/C6LC01173).
The Center is excited to accept requests for collaboration/service projects with researchers in the biomedical/microfluidics community. The difference between collaborations and service projects are as follows:
- Collaboration - the Center and outside researcher share intellectual information to generate joint funding opportunities or spawn new patents;
- Service - the Center personnel and their affiliates partner with external researchers using public domain Center technology, or help researchers deliver on new device concepts using our extensive fabrication infrastructure.
Researchers who wish to interact with the Center should complete the accompanying form on the Center’s website and submit it to the Center for evaluation by the Leadership Team.
For Collaborations, The Leadership Team will make decisions on accepting requests based on possible funding opportunities and the existing research capabilities of the Center.
For Service projects with a fabrication focus, requests will be forwarded to the appropriate fabrication Service Centers associated with:
Service Projects that utilize existing Center technologies will employ Core Facilities currently available to the Center at the University of Kansas.
Rapid prototyping tools including a CNC micromill and laser ablation.
CBM2 microfluidic device for the affinity selection of the CTCs directly from whole blood. They can recover >90% of CTCs with purity >80%. The device is made from PMMA via injection molding.
Plastic structures made via nanoimprint lithography from resin stamps. We can make structures as small as 10 nm and enclose the devices with cover plates to make functional fluidic devices.
Collaboration Form
Kindly use the form linked to from below to request collaboration and/or service with our center. Save the form on your computer, fill it out, and email to emmagoodrich17@ku.edu
Service Contacts
If you are interested in service through CBM2 fabrication facilities, please contact one of the following facility managers:
- KU Nanofabrication Facility:
Ryan Grigsby, ryan.grigsby@ku.edu - Microscopy Analytical Imaging, KU:
Eduardo Rosa-Molinar, erm@ku.edu - KU Physics Machine Shop:
Allen Hase, ahase@ku.edu - CHANL, UNC:
Bob Geil, bob.geil@unc.edu - CRiTCL, UNC:
Collin McKinney, collin@unc.edu - CAMD, LSU:
Richard Kurtz, rlkurtz@lsu.edu - Advanced Manufacturing and Machining Facility, LSU:
Nic Dinecola, ndinecola@lsu.edu - Shared Instrument Facility, LSU:
Dongmei Cao, dcao2@lsu.edu
Acknowledge Us In Your Research Effort
Please acknowledge us in your research effort using:
“We acknowledge the NIH/NIBIB funded (P41EB020594) Biotechnology Center of BioModular Multiscale Systems for Precision Medicine (CBM2) in supporting our research efforts by providing scientific input and/or training.”