Optoporation is a non-invasive, clean, and efficient way to transfect cells–delivering cargo into them. Here we characterize intracellular delivery using ns-pulsed laser. HeLa cells are cultured on a metal coated substrate, and the delivery is demonstrated. The viability and delivery rate of cells are evaluated for optimization.

There are high demands of cell size separation in medical or biological fields. For example, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are extremely rare in whole blood. However, CTCs have important information for cancer treatment. Therefore, separation technologies of cells are very important.One of the most popular separation technologies are based on size separation, because CTCs are larger than red blood cells. Conventional methods of size separation are proposed using microfluidics chips. However, most of conventional methods have to connect tube with microfluidics chips. Therefore, in the connected parts, some cells are clogged at the parts.In this study, we propose new size separation method based on vibration-induced flow that has no connection of tubes. Vibration-induced flow is occurred around micropillar by applying vibration to the micropillar. Vibration is applied by piezo actuator on the bottom of device. In this method, flow is generated by using piezo actuator and pumps are not needed. Thus, we succeeded in separation without connection tubes. Therefore, we succeeded to separate cells based on their size without clogging.

In this paper we have proposed a method of dispensing picoliter droplets containing cells or particles on a Microwell plate with the help of a pneumatic controlled transparent Micronozzle array. Our nozzle array provides parallel ejection of liquid that is useful for high-throughput placement. The capability of pneumatic control, transparent structure of nozzle array provide new functions to our Micronozzle array.

Droplets have been used for high-throughput applications of in chemistry and biology. Parallel manipulation of droplets is significant for utilizing droplets. The transparent nozzles were fabricated and it enable the observation of their movement. The nozzle array can handle parallel droplets, and it is expected to enhance the applications. Here, the sequential filling of droplets into chambers and ejection through a micronozzle array by pneumatic pressure was studied. First, droplets were generated. After the trapping of droplets in chambers, pneumatic pressure to a pneumatic channel was applied for their ejection. Parallel ejection was achieved successfully.

Conventional transdermal patch has been widely utilized to deliver specific medication through the skin. In recent decades, microneedles have been intensively researched and developed as a novel technique for transdermal drug delivery to achieve advantages such as minimally invasive and efficient drug delivery. Especially, dissolvable microneedles made of biodegradable materials loaded with specific drug that is released into skin after insertion are more focused. In this research, dissolvable coated thin-film mask with biodegradable microneedles on it was fabricated to achieve drug delivery enhancement. 10 % (w/w) Hyaluronic acid (HA) solution, as a biodegradable and biocompatible material, was evenly coated on water-soluble Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) substrate. After drying, the thickness of solidified coated film was around 10 μm. For microneedles fabrication, drawing lithography method was utilized. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) stamps fabricated by 3D printing technology with pillar arrays for stamping were designed with 1.5 mm diameter and 2mm spacing to adhere the 20% (w/w) HA solution for drawing at the room temperature. In a result, microneedles arrays were fabricated on the dissolvable HA and PVA substrate with the height of 400 μm〜800 μm. Large-sized dissolvable transdermal patch with biodegradable microneedles could be fabricated in this approach. The red Rhodamine B was used as model drug in the research.

Phototherapy has proven to be one of the most effective treatment options for skin treatment, like eczema, psoriasis, and even skin cancer therapy. However, the bottleneck of current clinical practice is that the relatively low efficiency of light transmission and limited penetration depth of light in skin tissues, due to the complex structure and properties of human skin tissues. Therefore, to develop a device for highly efficient light delivery and deeper light penetration in human skin tissues is expected to facilitate the development of phototherapy.In this study, we develop a device, combining the microneedle and microlens as an effective light delivery array. The microneedles, usually 100〜1000μm in length and less than 50μm in diameter, have received extensive attention as a minimally-invasive and painless approach of transdermal drug delivery in recent years. However, few researchers pay attention to the great application prospects of microneedle in phototherapy when it being combined with microlens as a light delivery device. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop an optical microlens-microneedle array by dissoluble material to improve the efficiency and depth of light delivery through the human skin tissues for phototherapy.

Minimally invasive insertion of needles offers considerable advantages over the conventional sensing routes. Moreover sensing at transdermal region is easily accessible without any complications. Measurement of electrolyte abnormalities resulting from prolonged sweating would be easiest way to detect the heatstroke risk. In this regard, we proposed a low cost, facile preparation, easy to use sensor for the detection of ions in transdermal region. Microneedles was achieved by replicating structures from a laser engraved stainless steel master. And then PDMS elastomer was poured on stainless steel master, cured for 2 hours at 70oC and peeled off. The peeled off microneedle array structure is semi flexible and transparent. Then, Au/Ti electrodes were deposited on PDMS using shadow mask to make electrodes for sensing studies. Finally the electrodes were modified using Ag/AgCl and ZnO for sensing characterizations. Electrochemical studies were performed using the conventional three electrode system by employing electrochemical workstation (Bipotentiosrat 2325, ALS Japan). Cyclic voltammetric and amperometric techniques were used for electrochemical analysis of the bare and metal oxide functionalized microneedle electrodes in the range of 10-100 μM.

In this study, oral endoscopic surgery is targeted. During surgery, the tongue is pressed with a tongue depressor to secure the operative field, circulatory disorders, edema and numbness are the subjects. Therefore, in this research, the authors aim to develop an opening device (retractor) with less burden even when holding down the tongue for a long time. As a result of comparative experiment using a model made with 3D printer based on simulation and actual tongue depressor, it was found that there is a difference depending on the shape of the tongue depressor.

In recent years, the number of elderly people has increased markedly. Elderly people are susceptible to lifestyle diseases such as dyslipidemia and diabetes. Light-load resistance exercise training is recommended as a prevention of lifestyle diseases of elderly people. However, it is difficult for beginners of exercise training to do training by themselves. The choice of an appropriate load and method is important for effective exercise training. For the reason, a system that can conduct effective exercise training even with the elderly alone is needed. Therefore, in this study, we made and evaluated a prototype of the device that enables proper exercise training using bio-signals with the theme of isometric contraction movement of the right wrist.

The purpose of this research is to develop a patient movement support system based on image processing. Although there are many types of fall preventive movement sensor using in the hospital, these sensors have problems that are malfunction alert, alert after the accident and so on. Therefore, in this research, we are developing a system to continuously monitor the condition of the patient by using a distance sensor. In this report, we describe the development of a function that detects the breathing condition to monitor the patient.