I have been working with the same system for a year now. I fabricate the PDMS molds through soft-lithography, and then I bond the PDMS to a coverslip via plasma treatment and bake the microchips overnight at 60°C. Then, I cast my hydrogel into the microchannels. I do the exactly same procedure every time and these last days I have been having problems for casting the hydrogel, which means my hydrogel (collagen hydrogel) is not going inside the channel. Have you ever had this type of problem?
Some things I noticed:
- I tried to wet the channels only with PBS and I see it does not flow easily
- The collagen is not getting aspirated as smoothly as before. Usually, it takes its time, since it is a viscous solution, but now it just stops at a certain point
Thank you for any help you can provide to a desperate PhD student :)
Jéssica Albuquerque
Although I personally lack experience in this field, the subsequent response is supplied by ChatGPT. I hope that this information proves helpful and contributes to resolving the issue at hand.
Based on your description, there are several potential reasons why your hydrogel is not entering the microfluidic channel. Here are some factors to consider and suggestions for troubleshooting:
It's important to troubleshoot these issues systematically, addressing one factor at a time, to identify the cause of the problem and optimize your microfluidic system.
From my experience, you should test the mold you used in SEM to check for any areas that might have not come out as you wanted and test your channel in an optic microscope to check for collapsed or clogged areas that might create significant back flow and pressure field.
If it worked before and doesn't now it usually points towards fabrication rather than something else.
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