Cong Hengji, Zhang Nan
Centre of Micro/Nano Manufacturing Technology (MNMT-Dublin), School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Biomicrofluidics. 2022 Mar 17;16(2):021301. doi: 10.1063/5.0079045. eCollection 2022 Mar.
Transforming lab research into a sustainable business is becoming a trend in the microfluidic field. However, there are various challenges during the translation process due to the gaps between academia and industry, especially from laboratory prototyping to industrial scale-up production, which is critical for potential commercialization. In this Perspective, based on our experience in collaboration with stakeholders, e.g., biologists, microfluidic engineers, diagnostic specialists, and manufacturers, we aim to share our understanding of the manufacturing process chain of microfluidic cartridge from concept development and laboratory prototyping to scale-up production, where the scale-up production of commercial microfluidic cartridges is highlighted. Four suggestions from the aspect of cartridge design for manufacturing, professional involvement, material selection, and standardization are provided in order to help scientists from the laboratory to bring their innovations into pre-clinical, clinical, and mass production and improve the manufacturability of laboratory prototypes toward commercialization.
将实验室研究转化为可持续业务正成为微流控领域的一种趋势。然而，由于学术界和产业界之间的差距，在转化过程中存在各种挑战，特别是从实验室原型制作到工业规模扩大生产，这对潜在的商业化至关重要。在这篇观点文章中，基于我们与利益相关者（如生物学家、微流控工程师、诊断专家和制造商）合作的经验，我们旨在分享我们对微流控芯片制造过程链的理解，从概念开发、实验室原型制作到扩大生产，其中重点强调了商用微流控芯片的扩大生产。从芯片制造设计、专业参与、材料选择和标准化等方面提出了四点建议，以帮助实验室的科学家将他们的创新成果带入临床前、临床和大规模生产阶段，并提高实验室原型向商业化发展的可制造性。
