Thin Film MEMS and BioMEMS

The Thin Film MEMS and BioMEMS group started its activities in 1990, and the focus of our research has evolved from the study of novel chemical vapor deposition techniques of thin-film semiconductors to optoelectronic devices in large-area and flexible substrates to our current research emphasis on thin-film silicon MEMS, and microfluidic biosensors and cell chips.

Presently, our research in transducers, microfluidic materials and devices, biomolecular recognition and on-chip cell culture aims at developing microfluidic modules for integrated biomicrosystems. These platforms, which can be applied in microorganism detection, plant stress and disease monitoring, food safety and biomedical research, aim at high levels of sensor and actuator integration with easy user interfaces and fit for purpose performance.

RESEARCH TOPICS

• Thin-film silicon MEMS

- Large-area, low-temperature, flexible/stretchable MEMS applications

- Transducers in air and water

- Integration with microfluidics

- Coupled resonators and resonator arrays

• Microfluidic biosensors

- Integrated optical, electrical and mechanical transduction

- Novel microfluidic material platforms

- Capillary biochips

- On-chip sample preparation and pre-concentration

- On-chip isothermal DNA amplification

- Biodetection in polymer and ionic liquid solutions and ATPS

- Detection of human health biomarkers

- Metabolic biomarkers in agriculture

• Cell chips

-  Multi-chamber/multicell capability

-  Integrated sensing

- Microchemostats

- Integrated bioprocessing with cell growth, lysis and purification

SCIENTIFIC AREAS

• Biosensing for health, environment, veterinary, agriculture and food applications

• Thin film semiconductor electronic and micromechanical (MEMS) devices

• Optical sensors and sensor integration

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

•  Thin-film deposition of semiconductors and dielectrics

• Thin-film silicon photodetectors

• Thin-film silicon MEMS

• Integrated absorption and interference optical filters

• Microfluidics for biosensing, bioprocessing and cell-chips

• Microbead-based microfluidics

• Sensor integration in microfluidics

PROJECTS AND COLLABORATIONS (ONGOING)

•  VineSense (FCT - PTDC/EMD-TLM/3253/2020) – microfluidic, point-of-impact, detection of biotic and abiotic stress biomarkers in grapes and vines (in collaboration with BioISI/FCUL)

• ILSurvive (FCT - PTDC/BAA-DIG/4735/2020) – microfluidic detection of disease biomarkers assisted by ionic-liquid-based aqueous two-phase systems (in collaboration with Ciceco/UAveiro)

• Cell chips (collaboration with iMED/FFUL) – cell chips for miniaturized phage display and for the study of insulin resistance in the liver

•  Integrated bioprocessing (collaboration with iBB/IST) – microfluidics for cell production, lysis and biotechnological product separation

Contacts:
Virginia Chu
João Pedro Conde