A CELLULAR MOTOR BASED MICRO PUMP - INTEGRATION OF CELLULAR MOTORS WITH MICRO CHANNELS

摘要

To achieve a high degree of functional density and efficiency, some of the micro actuators in MEMS can be replaced by active biological elements. An example of this is the cellular motor micro pump (CMMP) currently under development at the University of Arkansas. The CMMP is realized through the tethering of a harmless strain of Escherichia coli cells to a MEMS-based micro fluidic channel. In a free moving state, an E.coli cell 'swims' by rotating its' flagella, driven at the base by a rotary motor. When a cell is attached to a surface by a single shortened flagellar filament (～0.5 micron long), the motor turns the entire cell body at a high rotational speed. The CMMP utilizes this mechanism to transport liquid in a micro fluidic channel through viscous pumping. This paper describes two important areas in the CMMP development process: cell tethering in micro channels fabricated from various substrate materials and visualization of tethered cell behavior through fluorescent microscopy.