Flexible microfluidic bio-lab-on-a-chip multi-sensor platform for electrochemical measurements

International audience; Lab-on-a-chip devices are understood as an engineering challenge involving integration of different processes, new materials, and geometry scaling. The dynamic online monitoring of cell culture is an important tool in a wide range of biomedical applications. The use of a bio-lab-on-a-chip system allows the measurement of important metabolic parameters of living cells, in real-time, and in a non-invasive way [1]. Biosensor devices based on flexible substrates have gained attention because of their low-cost and biocompatibility [2]. Cyclo Olefin Polymer (COP) and polyimide films (KAPTON®) have many attractive properties such as thermal and mechanical stability, high chemical resistance, and low dielectric constants [3]. The aim of this work is the development of a novel low-cost flexible microfluidic platform which is an easy-to-use and reusable device for dynamic online monitoring of cell culture parameters using electrochemical sensors. The platform integrates gold microband electrodes capable of measuring Dissolved Oxygen (DO), and Hydrogen (H+), Sodium (Na+), and Potassium (K+) cations with ion-selective microelectrodes ((μ ISE), in the input and/or output of a cell culture chamber in order to protect the cells from hydrogen peroxide exposure. The performance of the platform has been validated in in-vitro conditions and it was demonstrated as the proof of concept.