Another Lab on a Chip article has been picked up by the press, describing a nifty micropump which is powered by fermentation of yeast. Manuel Ochoa and Babak Ziaie, Purdue University, created the “microorganism-powered thermopneumatic pump” by stacking PDMS layers with a silicon substrate drug reservoir and a chamber for the yeast. They showed that when the yeast ferments under body temperatures, the micropump could displace the drug in the reservoir. The technology has caused excitement due to its potential for use in transdermal drug delivery patches, by driving tiny microneedle arrays.
A fermentation-powered thermopneumatic pump for biomedical applications
Manuel Ochoa and Babak Ziaie
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40620A
