Building Microfluidics Devices

Biomedical engineer Michelle Khine uses Shrinky Dinks straight from the toy store to build microfluidic devices.

Aug 18, 2009
Khine holds up a Shrinky Dink sheet on which she has printed several designs. She uses an ordinary laser printer to reproduce the patterns.
Placed inside a toaster oven, a square of Shrinky Dink material shrivels as it heats up. The ink particles clump, creating ridges on the plastic. The miniaturized square will act as a mold for microfluidic chips made of polymer.
Khine peels a polymer microfluidic device from its Shrinky Dink mold.
Khine can also fabricate 3-D chips by melting etched Shrinky Dinks together.