Microfluidic Chips Made With Shrinky Dinks

SoyChemist writes "When she started her job as a new professor at UC Merced, Michelle Khine was stuck without a clean room or semiconductor fabrication equipment, so she went MacGyver and started making Lab-on-a-Chip devices in her kitchen with Shrinky Dinks, a laser printer, and a toaster oven. She would print a negative image of the channels onto the polystyrene sheets and then shrink them with heat. The miniaturized pattern served as a perfect mold for forming rounded, narrow channels in PDMS — a clear, synthetic rubber."

Sometimes

[$RANDOMLUSER (804576)]

I get a Shrinky Dink when I go swimming :-(

Re:

[gt_mattex (1016103)]

This gets modded funny? This professor, who also happens to be a woman, makes semi-conductors in her kitchen and all she gets is penis jokes? What she did was brilliant. How about a little appreciation of her ingenuity. I can feel the karma burn already.

Re:Sometimes people get butt-hurt.

[by Anonymous Coward]

Oh come on... it's first post. At least it wasn't a soviet russia joke or something about women professor overlords.

Anyone who knows anything about /. knows the insightful posts always come in the 3-5 position... they take longer.

Women can laugh at penis jokes too, ya know.

Misogyny it aint.

Karma Burn

[NeutronCowboy (896098)]

Just for kicks, I clicked through your posts, all the way back to what started this. For this, I had to wade through 2 additional "I was unfairly modded down" posts before I got to the post you thought was modded unfairly. All I can say is... you deserved every last one of your troll ratings.

To wit:
1) There was no information of any kind in that initial post. Unless you count "You're stupid!" as informational.
2) It led off with a spelling correction. Spelling corrections, especially when used in the context of determining IQ, are karma killers. With good reason - they contribute nothing and are designed to insult.
3) You invoked group-think. Accusing nerds on Slashdot is like accusing cats of being herd animals - it flies in the face of observation. Not to mention that you conveniently accused everyone who disagreed with you of group-think. That indicates that it is merely a cop-out to avoid facing the fact that you're plain wrong.
4) You brought an entirely irrelevant fact into the discussion - the user's sig.
5) Finally, your solution to your perceived problem is idiotic. IQ has nothing to do with whether guidelines are read or even adhered to. I suspect that you think that's an appropriate solution just because you scored above 100 on some IQ test, and think that that makes you special.

Here's something else: my post should be modded to -1 for being off-topic. Do I care? No. Why? Because I know that:
1) Karma is just a number that means nothing - people modded me up when I was posting at 1, and people modded me up when I had been modded down to -1.
2) On average, I contribute more than I flame. I know that a -1 mod here and there does nothing to my Karma.

Here's a suggestion: realize that your initial post was completely and utterly useless, and mods were correct in telling you so. Realize that the only way out of Karma hell is to contribute useful commentary. I suggest to start by reading the article, providing links in your posts, avoiding insults, etc.

Re:

[shadowbearer (554144)]

Accusing nerds on Slashdot is like accusing cats of being herd animals - it flies in the face of observation.

  What a beautiful sig there be there. ;)

SB

Re:

[jacquesm (154384)]

meta moderations should catch that. I personally think that a bad mod caught during meta moderations should revoke your UID or something like that to make you start at the bottom of the ladder again, hopefully to do better this time. We already have karma, we might as well have reincarnation :)

Suggestions for more effective Meta-Moderation.

[Non-Huffable Kitten (1142561)]

I agree that "I agree" / "I disagree" comment voting is a problem. My idea:

* Make it clear to meta-moderators that their job is to judge whether the moderation was based on quality, not on purely emotional agreeal.

* Give moderators the option to enter a short reason why the posting is of high/low quality. For example:

"-1, factually wrong: $person was born 1970, not 1986"
"+1, poster is clearly an expert on the subject"
"+1, well-reasoned argument that changed my view on the subject"
"+1, hot grits joke" (j/k)

(You might ask: "why not write a reply instead in these cases?"
A posting does not replace moderation; moderation scores are needed for filtering. Moderation reasons are also expected to be shorter. Maybe the reasons should be publicly visible (but not the moderator name - to prevent metamod abuse)).

* Make Overrated and Underrated metamoderatable. Moderators should give reasons like "the posting is not bad, but is not a +5 since these arguments have been said and answered many times and the user was apparently just upvoted because he sounds confident/smart".

Sure, this is not watertight; we can't expect moderators to write a paper on the subject to justify their vote. But I suppose that a large majority of the agreeal vorters would not bother to fake a reason and that's good enough. Meta-moderation would also be more fun. Your thoughts?

learn to fucking read

[everphilski (877346)]

This professor, who also happens to be a woman,

Who cares if she is a man or a woman? She is a person, like the rest of us.

makes semi-conductors in her kitchen and all she gets is penis jokes?

And she didn't make semiconductors, she made microfluidic devices. Yes, she is brilliant, you apparently are not.

Re:Sometimes

[rubycodez (864176)]

ya think clit jokes would be more appropriate?

Re:

[I Like Pudding (323363)]

You'd have to find them first.

Re:

[$RANDOMLUSER (804576)]

You're not real clear on the concept of "funny", are you?

Re:

[drcagn (715012)]

PICS????? plz

Re:

[everphilski (877346)]

like a frightened turtle...

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

See, even scientist women should stay in the kitchen!

right when you need it, too.

[User 956 (568564)]

When she started her job as a new professor at UC Merced, Michelle Khine was stuck without a clean room or semiconductor fabrication equipment

I hate when that happens.

Re:right when you need it, too.

[flyingsquid (813711)]

I'm not impressed. I mean, if she was really gonna pull a MacGuyver, she would have first made the toaster oven and printer with six feet of duct tape, a ball of string, and a half-can of WD-40.

Re:

[peragrin (659227)]

you need a match to light the wd-40 for the heat source, or at the very least an pair of binoculars, and some sunlight.

Re:

[Darinbob (1142669)]

I hate housework, and as a result I've been stuck without a clean room for decades.

Watch out for Einstien

[Rooked_One (591287)]

**WACK WACK WACK**

*obligitory family guy joke*

this story is a repeat

[circletimessquare (444983)]

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/01/1526216.shtml [slashdot.org]

how is it a troll?

[circletimessquare (444983)]

story is about shrinky dinks. omg ponies is the same sort of little sister handicraft

thus a silly throw away joke. exactly how humor deprived are you?

I love MacGyver

[prakslash (681585)]

Some unknown facts about MacGyver:

Fact: On the 1st day, God created MACGYVER. On the 2nd day, God created knives and paperclips. On the 3rd day.. MACGYVER created everything else.

Fact: MACGYVER can invent 1000 different things using a ball of yarn and a pair of sunglasses. 999 of these things can kill a man. The remaining thing can kill a planet.

Fact: MACGYVER invented genocide using only blankets and smallpox.

Fact: The only thing that MACGYVER cannot produce with a soda can and an extension cord... is mercy.

Fact:One time, MACGYVER built a time machine out of an old refrigerator and a pocketwatch, and used it to travel to the ancient paradise of Atlantis. However, while there, he went on a drunken bender with with a magnifying glass and a book of matches. This area is now known as the Sahara.

Fact: Chuck Norris is an android built by MACGYVER in an attempt to find a worthy opponent.

Fact: Some crazy people claim that MACGYVER was just a TV character, played by Richard Dean Anderson. In actuality, Richard Dean Anderson was played by MACGYVER, and the show was a documentary, the events of which REALLY HAPPENED.

And the final Fact: Necessity is the mother of invention but... MACGYVER is the father.

Let me guess...

[Poromenos1 (830658)]

MACGYVER invented that list?

Re:

[buddhahat (410161)]

+5 Informative? Really?

Re:

[lonesome_coder (1166023)]

MacGyver can also make his own mod points with a series of tubes, tropical-fruit Bubble-Yum and a Mountain Dew bottle.

...so yes, +5 informative.

Obligatory

[Cryacin (657549)]

"Don't thank me... Thank the moon's gravitational pull..."

Dingle berries,

[PHAEDRU5 (213667)]

Shit, these headlines just write themselves.

So the world will end

[zappepcs (820751)]

covered in greygoo created in someone's kitchen with toys from Matel?

Re:

[Penguinisto (415985)]

Only thing I don't see how to work in is the kitchen angle.

Oh, that's easy: Bobby Flay will use it in an Iron Chef America episode (something with Ancho peppers is a good bet), where it will jump up and go on an apeshit rampage after a food critic downs it ("too salty").

/P

Re:

[orclevegam (940336)]

Oh, that's easy: Bobby Flay will use it in an Iron Chef America episode (something with Ancho peppers is a good bet), where it will jump up and go on an apeshit rampage after a food critic downs it ("too salty").

Either that or Morimoto will feed it into an icecream maker along with some other decidedly un-icecream type food (such as anchovies, or maybe asparagus).

Forget it...

[gordgekko (574109)]

I'm not using microfluidic chips until they're immune to gravimetric distortions.

Re:

[Penguinisto (415985)]

I'm not using microfluidic chips until they're immune to gravimetric distortions.

No problem: Red Food Coloring (#2) and a ballpoint pen should do it (see also the MacGyver list further up).

/P

Re:Forget it...

[iluvcapra (782887)]

The gravimetric distortions are only a problem if you miss the annual baryon sweeps. The real concern is chromometric distortions and temporal wakes.

And MacGuyver..

patented I hope...

[advocate_one (662832)]

this is the sort of thing that deserves patenting...

Re:

[Obfuscant (592200)]

I suspect that Shrinky Dinks are already patented.

What I want to know, is if Shrinky Dinks shrink when heated, why isn't fusing the toner to the Dink making it shrink? I mean, if you use the wrong transparency film in a laser printer, it MELTS and makes a horrible mess. Why aren't the Dinkys Shrinky?

Patents and absence of shrink in printer

[DrYak (748999)]

I suspect that Shrinky Dinks are already patented.

From what I've learned (yes they now teach patents in some research class here around), the application of a process is included in the patent application. If you invent a new application of an ancient method you could try to apply for a new patent (...now we found you can also do that with it...), as long as nobody has published about this new usage.

In this cases : Sorry, too late ! Prof. Khine has already published the paper, so there's no way Shrinky Dink's creator could patent a new use of their product.

Beside, as pointed out by other /.ers, the point of this method is to enable labs who can't afford the real -fluidic chip, to quickly homebrew their own using cheap materials (PDMS is also a material much loved in the rapid prototyping communities). Patenting (and thus putting a control on who can use this method and who can't) will prevent other small labs using it to quickly produce chips. It would be the exact kind of patent that stifles progress and creativity instead of encouraging them.
Beside a patent is only useful if you want to sell your method to the industry. In this case the industry already has photo lithography, which isn't expensive for them given their production scales, so they don't really need the "kitchen"-made technique.

What I want to know, is if Shrinky Dinks shrink when heated, why isn't fusing the toner to the Dink making it shrink? I mean, if you use the wrong transparency film in a laser printer, it MELTS and makes a horrible mess. Why aren't the Dinkys Shrinky?

Probably for the same reason the not-wrong transparency film don't melt :
Shrinky dinks probably happen to tolerate higher thermal energy before starting to change shape.
I mean they are supposed to be cooked in an oven in order to shrink. Not just somewhat heated.
According to the paper, they cooked the plastic sheets for 5min at 163C in the ovens, in order to achieve the desired shrinking. Probably the couple of seconds the sheets spends in contact with the laser drum don't transfer enough thermal energy (besides, this article [fsnet.co.uk] has also measured a lower temperature of 145 C, thus making the total heat exchange even lower inside the printer).

But probably, if there's a paper jam (or a plastic jam in this case) and the plastic sheets stay for several minutes against the heated drum, then probably you'll have to remove the jam using a magnifying glass and tweezers.

I read somewhere about a process

[JohnnyGTO (102952)]

that used fine grooved plastic(?) to combine methenol and vegetable oil to make pure bio diesel with out all the messy steps. I wonder if shrinky dinks would work to produce those same grooves?

messy Bio-diesel details

[JumpingBull (551722)]

I am not sure about the methanol, but if I remember the wikipedia article, you can use a vegetable oil ( like canola) and lye to yank the organic acid off the oil. What you are left with is a fuel ( an ester) that burns clean, and lots and lots of glycerol.

Apparently, the glycerol can be used to make urethane foam, for insulation - I still don't quite know how that is supposed to work.

The reactor that you remember I think I saw on slashdot; by using a huge number of capillary tubes, the reaction area wa

Saving a lot of money

[SoapDish (971052)]

A former professor of mine works with lab on a chip stuff. She really stressed the point that computer and mathematical modelling is extremely important in engineering, particularly her research, because microfluidic chips are extremely expensive. I can't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere above $1000/chip.

Sure, the name "shrinky dinks" is funny, but being able to make these lab-on-a-chips affordably is a big deal.

Stupid Toy

[gooman (709147)]

This is pretty neat.

As a kid I never understood the appeal of the Shrinky Dink as a toy. You draw on some plastic and then put it in the oven and it comes out smaller. Big whoop. Why not just draw it smaller to begin with.

But this is actually a functional (and cool technology) use/hack for the toy.

I tip my hat.

In other news...

[ElboRuum (946542)]

Another of her colleagues managed to come up with a workable Supersymmetry model using a Pet Rock, a Toss Across, and a Slinky.

Very cool article

[bentfork (92199)]

Micro machining with house hold items is a quite impressive feat. I can imagine building some awesome circuits with this and a conductive pen

However this image:

http://www.rsc.org/ej/LC/2008/b711622e/b711622e-f4.gif [rsc.org]

Is quite impressive. It is a excellent demonstration of what you can build with these channels. Quite cool.

Now where can I find a hand-held corona discharger?

Coming Soon: advanced inks and printers

[Spittoon (64395)]

I can't explain it; this story made my day. Dupe or no dupe. Very cool.

I know nothing about this area of science, but holy cow! This simple technique already seems to accomplish so much, and to be so useful. Think what it will be when they've created advanced inks and molding materials to create smoother "walls" and which let you control the "shrink" factor more precisely! Imagine specially designed printers to enable chip printing-- even if it's just a more precise tray to hold the shrinky dink media.

This is terribly exciting. It puts microfluidic experimentation within the reach of any hobbyist, college class, or high school! Great breakthroughs will come of this, I just know it.

Re:Somethings tapping at the back of her head

[heinousjay (683506)]

Ironically, the sensitive guy act is a lot more likely to result in permanent virginity.

Re:

[Obfuscant (592200)]

Maybe this is why Shrinky Dink technology is getting popular with slashdotters.

Actually, the most popular toy technology for /.ers is now aquadots!

Re:

[mikael (484)]

I thought this year it would be:

radio controlled dragonflies [youtube.com]

and radio controlled helicopters [youtube.com]

Now, if they put a couple of wireless cameras into those, that would really cool.

Re:Meanwhile

[setagllib (753300)]

You saw it here first folks, a new anonymous literary masterpiece born right here on the dot.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

From the first link - http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/macgyver-scienc.html [wired.com]

In addition to making some simpler devices, Khine and her team emblazoned a Christmas tree design into a piece of PDMS and showed how it can blend different types of food coloring to make a rainbow pattern. Since microfluidic devices are sometimes used for biological research, the young professor also showed that Chinese Hamster Ovary cells can flow through through the narrow channels.

I think it was tagged such because

Re:A Challenge.

[everphilski (877346)]

Microfluidic Logic Gates [rsc.org]

Re:

[whitehatlurker (867714)]

Don't laugh - she's an engineer. We had strange toys.

Wanna bet she made light saber out of that very laser printer? Or an FTL drive?