Microneedle technologies for (trans)dermal drug and vaccine delivery.

Meso-FE modelling of textile composites: Road map, data flow and algorithms

Virtual textile composites software WiseTex: Integration with micro-mechanical, permeability and structural analysis

Virtual textile composites software Wisetex: integration with micromechanical, permeability and structural analysis

In this review, we present recent advancements and novel developments in fluidic systems for applied analytical purposes in chemistry, biochemistry, and life science in general that employ and reflect the full benefits of microfluidics. A staggering rise in publications related to integrated, all-in-one microfluidic chips capable of separation, reaction, and detection have been observed, all of which realise the principal of micro total analysis systems or lab-on-a-chip. These integrated chips actively adopt the scaling law concepts, utilising the highly developed fabrication techniques. Their aim is to multi-functionalise and fully automate devices believed to assist the future advancements of point-of-care, clinical, and medical diagnostics.

Microfluidics: Applications for analytical purposes in chemistry and biochemistry

Finite element analysis of damaged woven fabric composite materials

We focus on research to develop a compact human blood sampling device used for the Self Monitoring of Blood Glucose (SMBG). The SMBG comprises: (1) an indentation system using a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator to force a microneedle through the skin; (2) a micro electrical pumping system to extract blood using a bimorph type piezoelectric microactuator; (3) a biosensor using an enzyme such as glucose oxidase (GOx) to detect and evaluate the amount of glucose in extracted blood. A titanium microneedle the same size as a female mosquito's labium (60 mum outer diameter, 25 mum inner diameter) was produced by the sputter deposition method. The mechanical design of the device was based upon the mosquito's blood sampling mechanism. The blood extraction system worked well. We measured the performance of the principal components: the indentation load for a microneedle of external diameter 100 mum was found to be 0.1 N. The pumping system has an extraction speed of about 2 mul/min for whole blood. This is similar to that achieved by the mosquito.

Development of blood extraction system for health monitoring system.

Polarization-induced two-dimensional electron gas at Zn1−xMgxO/ZnO heterointerface

The purpose of this study is to design, generate, and characterize a titanium alloy microneedle, which can be used in Bio-MEMS such as a Health Monitoring System (HMS) for blood sugar level. One of the most important requirements for Bio-MEMS is a microneedle with an inner diameter of 100 μm and an outer diameter of 200 μm, which mimics the female mosquito's painless blood extraction mechanism. In this study, a microneedle was produced and evaluated taking into account: (1) selection of a biocompatible material from titanium alloys by the cytotoxic assay; (2) the effect of changing of inner diameter of the microneedle on the time taken to extract a volume of blood through the microneedle (the contribution rate for the inner diameter of a microneedle was 49% when volume flow rate was defined as an evaluation value); (3) RF magnetron sputter deposition methods for generating microtubes 4 mm long with an inner diameter of 100 μm and outer diameter of 200 μm; and (4) evaluation of blood extraction speeds. A flow rate 7.3 μl/s was obtained for pure titanium and titanium alloy (Ti–15Mo–5Zr–3Al) microneedles.

Design and development of a biocompatible painless microneedle by the ion sputtering deposition method

Polycrystalline piezoelectric materials are aggregations of crystal grains and domains with uneven forms and orientations. Therefore, the macroscopic ferroelectric property should be characterized by introducing a microscopic inhomogeneity in the crystal morphology. In this study, a multi-scale finite element modelling procedure based on a crystallographic homogenization method has been proposed for describing a macroscopic property of polycrystalline ferroelectrics with consideration of the crystal morphology at a microscopic scale. The proposed procedure has been applied to two kinds of piezoelectric materials, BaTiO3 and PbTiO3 polycrystals; the influence of microscopic crystal orientations on macroscopic ferroelectric properties was verified numerically. From the computational results, it has been shown that piezoelectric constants of polycrystalline ferroelectrics can be maximized by design of microscopic crystal morphology.

Yasutomo Uetsuji

Papers

Finite element analysis of damaged woven fabric composite materials

Development of blood extraction system for health monitoring system.

Polarization-induced two-dimensional electron gas at Zn1−xMgxO/ZnO heterointerface

Design and development of a biocompatible painless microneedle by the ion sputtering deposition method

Numerical investigation on ferroelectric properties of piezoelectric materials using a crystallographic homogenization method