Study of mechanical effects of microfluidic channels in microneedles

Modern neural probes integrate microfluidic chemical sampling to measure spatio-temporal neurochemical transients in the brain while also pursuing miniaturization to minimize tissue damage. This brings into question the effect of the integrated microfluidic channels on the mechanical integrity of these probes. We have developed a set of tools to help us answer this question. We built an analytical model to predict the mechanical strength of a probe and used that backbone to answer the inverse question of what range of geometries are available to us for a target brain. We then bench marked this model against more complex simulations which were in turn validated with literature sources. This helped us obtain more insights into the effect or lack thereof of microfluidic channels on a neural probe’s mechanical integrity. Finally, we fabricated samples to test and built a setup to experimentally measure the mechanical strength of our probes. The experimental measurements unfortunately do not agree with our simulations or analytical model for several reasons we have outlined. We need to build a more robust and precisely controlled setup in order to take better measurements and completely leverage the predictive powers of our models.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Iyer, Hrishikesh

Contributors dc:contributor

• Vlasov, Yurii

• neural probe
• microfluidic channel
• buckling

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Hrishikesh Iyer

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113096

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/113096