Young-Soo Choi

Surface-patterned SU-8 cantilever arrays for preliminary screening of cardiac toxicity.

Arrays of a μgrooved SU-8 cantilever were utilized to analyze changes in the contraction force and beating frequency of cardiomyocytes in vitro. The longitudinally patterned μgrooves facilitates alignment of cardiomyocytes on top of the SU-8 cantilever, which increases the contraction force of cardiomyocytes by a factor of about 2.5. The bending displacement of the SU-8 cantilever was precisely measured in nanoscale using a laser-based measurement system combined with a motorized xyz stage. The cantilever displacement due to contraction of the cardiomyocytes showed the maximum on day 8 after their cultivation. Following preliminary experiments, Isoproterenol, Verapamil, and Astemizole were used to investigate the effect of drug toxicity on the physiology of cardiomyocytes. The experimental results indicated that 1 µM of Isoproterenol treatment increased contraction force and beating frequencies of cardiomyocytes by 30% and 200%, respectively, whereas 500 nM of Verapamil treatment decreased contraction force and beating frequencies of cardiomyocytes by 56% and 42%, respectively. A concentration of less than 5 nM of the hERG channel suppression drug Astemizole did not change the contraction forces in the displacement but slightly decreased the beating frequencies. However, irregular or abnormal heartbeats were observed at Astemizole concentrations of 5 nM and higher. We experimentally conformed that the proposed SU-8 cantilever arrays combined with the laser-based measurement systems has the great potential for a high-throughput drug toxicity screening system in future.

Selective nano-patterning of graphene using a heated atomic force microscope tip.

In this study, we introduce a selective thermochemical nano-patterning method of graphene on insulating substrates. A tiny heater formed at the end of an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever is optimized by a finite element method. The cantilever device is fabricated using conventional micromachining processes. After preliminary tests of the cantilever device, nano-patterning experiments are conducted with various conducting and insulating samples. The results indicate that faster scanning speed and higher contact force are desirable to reduce the sizes of nano-patterns. With the experimental condition of 1 μm/s and 24 mW, the heated AFM tip generates a graphene oxide layer of 3.6 nm height and 363 nm width, on a 300 nm thick SiO2 layer, with a tip contact force of 100 nN.

Polymeric cantilever integrated with PDMS/graphene composite strain sensor

This paper describes the mechanical and electrical characteristics of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cantilever integrated with a high-sensitivity strain sensor. The strain sensor is fabricated using PDMS and graphene flakes that are uniformly distributed in the PDMS. In order to prepare PDMS/graphene composite with uniform resistance, a tetrahydrofuran solution is used to decrease the viscosity of a PDMS base polymer solution. A horn-type sonicator is then used to mix the base polymer with graphene flakes. Low viscosity of the base polymer solution improves the reliability and reproducibility of the PDMS/graphene composite for strain sensor applications. After dicing the composite into the desired sensor shape, a tensile test is performed. The experimental results show that the composite with a concentration of 30 wt.% exhibits a linear response up to a strain rate of 9%. The graphene concentration of the prepared materials affects the gauge factor, which at 20% graphene concentration reaches about 50, and with increasing graphene concentration to 30% decreases to 9. Furthermore, photolithography, PDMS casting, and a stencil process are used to fabricate a PDMS cantilever with an integrated strain sensor. The change in resistance of the integrated PDMS/graphene sensor is characterized with respect to the displacement of the cantilever of within 500 μm. The experimental results confirmed that the prepared PDMS/graphene based sensor has the potential for high-sensitive biosensor applications.

Micromachined fragment capturer for biomedical applications

Due to changes in modern diet, a form of heart disease called chronic total occlusion has become a serious disease to be treated as an emergency. In this study, we propose a micromachined capturer that is designed and fabricated to collect plaque fragments generated during surgery to remove the thrombus. The fragment capturer consists of a plastic body made by rapid prototyping, SU-8 mesh structures using MEMS techniques, and ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators. An array of IPMC actuators combined with the SU-8 net structure was optimized to effectively collect plaque fragments. The evaporation of solvent through the actuators surface was prevented using a coating of SU-8 and polydimethylsiloxane thin film on the actuator. This approach improved the available operating time of the IPMC, which primarily depends on solvent loss. Our preliminary results demonstrate the possibility of using the capturer for biomedical applications.

Optimization of the ninhydrin reaction and development of a multiwell plate-based high-throughput proline detection assay

We developed a high-throughput technique for highly sensitive measurement of trace amounts of proline, an indicator of drought stress in plants, using an optimized proline-ninhydrin reaction. In order to do this, proline detection time was minimized by omitting phosphoric acid from the ninhydrin reagent. Chromophore extraction using toluene was also omitted, thus lowering the risks to environment and human health, and allowing the use of readily available polystyrene plates. Proline detection sensitivity was assessed based on the concentration of sulfosalicylic acid in the solution, which indicated that 1% sulfosalicylic acid yielded the best sensitivity and linearity. These findings were applied to a multiwell plate-based multiplex analysis using a dry oven for the simultaneous analysis of a large number of drought-stressed plant samples with trace amounts of proline. The results showed that proline could be effectively detected in plants grown in soil with water content under 5%, demonstrating its potential for diagnosing drought early. The proposed multiwell plate-based multiplex assay is expected to be useful in manifold agricultural applications.

Surface-adaptable all-metal micro-four-point probe with unique configuration

In this paper, we propose a surface-adaptable all-metal micro-four-point probe (μ4PP) with a unique configuration. The μ4PP consists of four independent metallic sub-cantilevers with sharp Cu tips, and an SU-8 body structure to support the sub-cantilevers. The tip height is approximately 15 μm, and the tips are fabricated by anisotropic wet-etching of silicon followed by Cu electroplating. Each metallic cantilever connected to the SU-8 body structure acts as a flexible spring, so that the conducting tip can make gentle, non-destructive contact with fragile surfaces. To enhance the adhesion between the metallic sub-cantilevers and the SU-8 body, mushroom-shaped Cu structures were fabricated using an under-baked and under-exposed photolithography process. Various μ4PPs were designed and fabricated to verify their diverse range of applications, and preliminary experiments were performed using these fabricated μ4PPs. The resultant flexibility and reliability were experimentally confirmed on several samples, such as a polymer cantilever, a graphene flake, and curved metallic surfaces. We also expect that the proposed μ4PP will be suitable for measuring the anisotropic characteristics of crystal materials or the Hall effect in semiconductors.

Reduction of Odor Emission from Swine Excreta using Silver Nano Colloid

The effect of SNC(silver nano colloid) on the emission reduction of odors such as ammonia (), hydrogen sulfide (), and methane () from swine excreta was studied. Silver has been used as an universal antibiotic substance and can reduce the emission of some gases by sterilizing action. Therefore, an apparatus which produces SNC was developed and was conducted its performance test. Also, the SNC made by the apparatus was applied to swine excreta sampled from a piggery in oder to find the effect on the reduction of odor emission. An electrolysis apparatus was developed to produce SNC and its capacity was 0.024 ppm/. The effects of SNC on the reduction of odor emission from swine excreta were tested for bad smell gases of ammonia (), hydrogen sulfide () and methane (). For ammonia gas, factorial experiments were conducted to find the effects of concentration and application rate of SNC. The test results for the different concentrations of 20 ppm, 50 ppm, and 100 ppm showed that the more concentration of SNC was increased, the more emission reduction of ammonia gas increased. From the test results about the effect of application rate, the more SNC was applied, the more emission reduction of increased. In order to reduce the concentration of below 5 ppm, SNC of 50 ppm is recommended to be applied at an interval of 6 hours, and is mixed with swine excreta in the volumetric ratio of 4:1. For hydrogen sulfide gas, the concentration was decreased as time went by and was reduced rapidly in the first stage of the tests for all applied concentrations of SNC (20 ppm, 50 ppm, and 100 ppm). Especially, when 100 ml of SNC with 100 ppm was applied, emission of hydrogen sulfide gas was reduced rapidly during early 4 hours after the application of SNC. And, concentration of hydrogen sulfide gas was maintained below 20 ppm after 12 hours. For methane gas, t-test showed that there was no significance on the effect of its application for all applied concentrations of SNC. Therefore, it was concluded that the application of SNC on swine excreta had no effect on the emission reduction of .