The BioMEMS Research Group

After a large number of request we have just updated our How to join section

The BioMEMS Research Group is a unique multidisciplinary laboratory where mechatronics, electronics and robotics meet biotechnology, biology and biochemistry in one truly exceptional melting pot. We are advancing our interdisciplinary projects through innovative research and hands-on, practical education of students. We therefore welcome applications from hard-working and deeply motivated postgraduate students, post docs and potential visiting researchers from a plethora of different disciplines.  If you are prepared to work really hard, develop new sets of skills and make considerable achievements while at the same time having fun in a great environment and developing your career in an exciting field of research you might be suitable for our lab.

Due to extreme demand and limited available space and resources, we however only accept small amount of highly motivated, enthusiastic and very hard working students. Openings are limited and highly competitive so please contact us in advance if you would like to join us as a MSc or PhD student. Please refer to the How to join section before deciding whether you would like to joint the BioMEMS Group.

Our recent work, “New rationale for large metazoan embryo manipulations on chip-based devices,” published in Biomicrofluidics 6, 024102 (2012), has been selected for the April 15, 2012 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.  The Virtual Journal, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics in cooperation with numerous other societies and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research.

Dr Donald Wlodkowic is one of six academics form across the University of Auckland to be awarded with a prestigious Early Career Research Excellence Award 2012. The award was presented by the Vice-Chancellor at the Celebrating Research Excellence event on 1^st of May. The award includes a research grant to support research into the development of a new class of smart microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip devices.

The BioMEMS Group has recently been visited by a Member of the Parliament Eugenie Sage and the Green Party Spokesperson for Environment, Conservation, Water, Local Government, Christchurch, Older Persons, Land Information and Resource Management Issues.

Our newest work (Khoshmanesh K, Akagi J, Hall CJ, Crosier KE, Crosier PS, Cooper JM, Wlodkowic D. Rationale for Large Metazoan Embryo Manipulations on Chip-Based Devices. Biomicrofluidics. 2012; 6: 024102.) for the first time provides evidence that by employing innovative design features, highly efficient hydrodynamic positioning of large embryos on chip-based can be successfully achieved.

Abstract

The lack of technologies that combine automated manipulation, sorting, as well as immobilization of single metazoan embryos remains the key obstacle to high-throughput organism-based ecotoxicological analysis and drug screening routines. Noticeably, the major obstacle hampering the automated trapping and arraying of millimetre-sized embryos on chip-based devices is their substantial size and mass, which lead to rapid gravitational-induced sedimentation and strong inertial forces. In this work, we present a comprehensive mechanistic and design rationale for manipulation and passive trapping of individual zebrafish embryos using only hydrodynamic forces. We provide evidence that by employing innovative design features, highly efficient hydrodynamic positioning of large embryos on a chip can be achieved. We also show how computational fluid dynamics-guided design and the Lagrangian particle tracking modeling can be used to optimize the chip performance. Importantly, we show that rapid prototyping and medium scale fabrication of miniaturized devices can be greatly accelerated by combining high-speed laser prototyping with replica moulding in poly(dimethylsiloxane) instead of conventional photolithography techniques. Our work establishes a new paradigm for chip-based manipulation of large multicellular organisms with diameters well above 1 mm and masses often exceeding 1 mg. Passive docking of large embryos is an attractive alternative to provide high level of automation while alleviating potentially deleterious effects associated with the use of active chip actuation. This greatly expands the capabilities of bioanalyses performed on small model organisms and offers numerous and currently inaccessible laboratory automation advantages.

Apart form Arduino open-source prototyping environment we have recently become keen supporters of BeagleBoard.org project promoting embedded Linux platforms. We are the very first group to use open-source BeagleBoard for projects related to biotechnological laboratory automation and its integration for sensing and actuation of our innovative Lab-on-a-Chip (microfluidic and mesofluidic) bioanalytical devices. We hope that ARM and embedded Linux powered biolaboratory automation will provide cost-effective and rapid development of integrated bioanalytical devices providing accelerated implementation of new analytical functionalities. We will also support emergence of open-source bioanalytical devices for point-of-care diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

Apart from laboratory automation we will be embedding BeagleBoard into our robotics and mechatronics projects creating both new research and development and also educational opportunities.

So far we have adopted two boards for initial tests: the low-end BeagleBone and the high-end BeagleBoard-xM. The latter delivers astonishing processing power using super-scalar ARM ^® Cortex ^TM -A8 microprocessor enabling us to go beyond the current limitations of low power Atmel and PIC microcontrollers at the very low price tag.

The Australian Nanotechnology Network(ANN)(formerly ARCNN) is dedicated to substantially enhancing Australia’s research outcomes in this important field by promoting effective collaborations, exposing researchers to alternative and complementary approaches from other fields, encouraging forums for postgraduate students and early career researchers, increasing nanotechnology infrastructure, enhancing awareness of existing infrastructure, and promoting international links. The ANN will achieve these goals through its dedication to bringing together all the various groups working in the field of Nanotechnology and related areas within Australia.

We are attending the 26th EUROSENSORS Conference in Krakow, Poland

Since its establishment in 1987, the Eurosensors series of conferences are the only European forum to cover the entire field of Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems. The Eurosensors conference provides an excellent opportunity to bring together European scientists and engineers from academia, research institutes and companies to present and discuss the latest results in the general field of solid-state sensors, actuators, microsystems and nanosystems. The conference goals are to stimulate interaction and knowledge exchange between the delegates in a friendly atmosphere.

Scope of the conference: Micro- and Nano- Fabrication for Sensors and Actuators; Materials and Technology; New Sensors Concepts: VIS/NIR, THz, X-ray; Physical and Chemical Sensors; Biological Sensors – Biomedical Devices and Systems; Micro Fluidic & Micro Analytical Devices and Systems; Micro Power Generation – Autonomous Microsystems; Theory, Modelling and Design; Wireless Sensor Networks; Interface and System Issues; RF MEMS – Optical MEMS; Micromachines and Actuators; Packaging and Assembly Technology.

We are attending the Sixteenth International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (µTAS 2012) held at the Okinawa Convention Center in Okinawa, Japan from October 28 to November 1, 2012.

µTAS 2012 continues a series of Conferences that are the premier forum for reporting and exchanging research results in microfluidics, microfabrication, nanotechnology, integration, materials and surfaces, analysis and synthesis, and detection technologies for life sciences and chemistry. The Conference offers plenary talks as well as contributed oral presentations and posters selected from submitted abstracts.

Following Tokyo in 2006, Paris in 2007, San Diego in 2008, Jeju in 2009, Groningen in 2010 and Seattle in 2011, over 1,000 worldwide scientists and professionals engaged in research on and the use of integrated microsystems and nanotechnology for chemistry and life sciences are anticipated to attend the conference in Okinawa.

Scope of the µTAS 2012 Conference: Microfluidics and Nanofluidics; Life Science Applications; Analysis and Synthesis Applications; MEMS and NEMS Technologies; Nanotechnologies; Imaging and Detection Technologies; Integrated Sample-to-Answer Systems; Application to Green Technologies; Other Applications