Design and fabrication of biodegradable microfluidic platforms for enhanced tunnelling magnetoresistance sensor

Kamkar, Paria (2025) Design and fabrication of biodegradable microfluidic platforms for enhanced tunnelling magnetoresistance sensor. MRes thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Cancer remains a significant global health issue with its incidence and mortality rates increasing rapidly worldwide. Therefore, detecting cancer at an early stage can significantly increase survival rates. However, conventional diagnostic methods often depend on bulky, expensive equipment and require trained personnel, which limits their accessibility. This underscores the urgent need for simple, low-cost diagnostic devices that enable timely and effective early diagnosis. Microfluidics is a technology for controlling fluids at the microscale with high accuracy has emerged as a powerful potential instrument in biomedical and environmental processes, particularly when combined with cutting-edge sensing technologies and eco-friendly materials.

In this contribution, we investigated the design and fabrication of biodegradable microfluidic devices to improve the performance of tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors by utilizing the biocompatibility of hydrogels, such as Polyethylene Glycol Diacrylate (PEGDA) and Gelatin Methacryloyl (GelMA), in conjunction with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Through photolithography and digital light processing three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, we obtained high-resolution microchannel geometries, where PEGDA exhibited the best fidelity and printability.

In this study, channels with a width of 500 µm and a depth of 1 mm were fabricated successfully using a 25% PEGDA solution. Optimal fabrication was achieved after modifying the layer height settings of the CELLINK Lumen X DLP 3D printer from the initial 100 µm to 50 µm and subsequently to 20 µm. The platforms were validated using TMR sensors for detecting magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the concentration range of 0 to 40 × 10³, showing a linear response with R² = 0.9771, indicating high sensitivity, reproducibility, real-time detection, and repeatable recovery of the baseline. These results underscore the potential of PEGDA- and PDMS-based biodegradable microfluidic devices for scalable biosensing applications. The integration of magnetic biosensing, hydrogelassisted microfabrication, and sustainable materials enables the development of nextgeneration diagnostic tools that are not only efficient and sensitive but also environmentally friendly and well-suited for point-of-care testing and home-based monitoring.

• Item Type: Thesis (MRes)
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: T Technology > T Technology (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering
• Funder's Name: EPSRC EU Guarantee (EPSRCEU)
• Supervisor's Name: Parvizi, Dr. Roghaieh
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85328
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 Jul 2025 10:55
• Last Modified: 10 Jul 2025 11:01
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85328
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85328