| Grant number: | 17/20445-8 |
| Support type: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |
| Effective date (Start): | March 01, 2018 |
| Effective date (End): | February 29, 2020 |
| Field of knowledge: | Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Electrical, Magnetic and Electronic Measurements, Instrumentation |
| Cooperation agreement: | Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) |
| Principal Investigator: | Eric Fujiwara |
| Grantee: | Marco César Prado Soares |
| Home Institution: | Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Microfluidics is the science which studies the manipulation of small fluid samples in micrometric channels, and has the purpose of remodeling conventional procedures, using systems with more compact and versatile shapes. It is a knowledge field that is still in the beginning of its development, but that is already capable of offering a series of advantages in relation to traditional macroscopic processes. Microfluidics applied to biotechnology has been receiving increasing attention and, for the experiments achieve the best results, it is necessary to provide an efficient analysis method. Today, few monitoring and sensing techniques are applicable, and the use of microscopy with fluorescence markers is the main technique to evaluate cell growth in biological systems. Due to some advantages intrinsic to fiber optics, such as robustness, low cost and ease of operation, some studies on the use of fiber optic sensors applied to microfluidic systems have already begun. Based on preliminary results, which indicated the phenomenon of dynamic light scattering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultures operating in perfusion mode, this project seeks to apply fiber optic sensing to a microfluidic device, providing a simpler alternative to the professionals who deal with these equipments daily. For this, data of microbial kinetics will be obtained through the analysis of optical microscopy, and these data, in turn, will be compared to the parameters collected with the fiber optic sensor. In order to perform the experiments, the flow rates and the temperature of the device will be kept constant and, starting from a given initial concentration of cells, the response will be verified when the microorganisms are submitted to different concentrations of limiting substrate. (AU) | |