Eman

  • Port parameters
    • Must be able to access the ports from the holder
    • Will have an inlet port and an outlet port for each channel
      • Maybe we can have 1 collective inlet port and 1 collective outlet port
    • There should be some distance between the perpendicular edges of the cell and the ports to make sure that action can be seen and nothing is able to sneak away
      • Maybe the ports should not be directly on the edge at all
    • Will have to take the ports into consideration when designing the chip holder
  • Channel parameters – Required to have at least 4
    • More than 4?
      • Pros:
        • More channels means more backups if one is really crappy
        • Increase the flow field
        • More design potential without a limited number of channels
      • Cons:
        • Might have to make the chip bigger
        • Flow field could be too big
        • Maybe less is more with respect to the number of channels; there is a reason that the number 4 is given
    • Exactly 4:
      • Pros:
        • Will definitely have a well-defined flow field
        • Is the recommended number, so gives a slight feeling of reassurance
        • Will probably be easier to design the chip because we don’t have to worry about there being enough space between the channels and don’t have to worry coming up with our own chip parameters
        • Since this is the number specifically mentioned in the problem statement, there will probably be a lot of people who have done 4 channels and can give us advice
      • Cons:
        • No room for error since 4 is the minimum
        • Maybe 4 channels isn’t enough for us to test the variable that we decide to test
  • Depth?
    • Must be within 120 – 150 micrometers
      • Going on lower end
        • Pros – possibly more laminar flow
        • Cons – may result in a thinner layer of yeast cells
      • Going on high end
        • Pros – will probably lead to a thicker layer of yeast cells
        • Cons – might cause a more turbulent flow
  • Width?
    • Must be within 300 to 400 micrometers
      • Going on lower end
        • Pros:
          • Wouldn’t have to worry about making the chip wider
          • Could potentially fit more channels on the chip
        •  Cons:
          • Less room for flow
          • Less room for layer of yeast cells
          • Less room for potential error
      • Going on higher end
        • Pros
          • More room for flow
          • More room for layer of yeast cells
          • More room for potential error
        • Cons
          • Could have a substantial difference in type/speed of flow-may be too fast/turbulent
          • Would have to take into account the design on the chip, might need to make the chip a bit wider
  • Consideration of testing region
    • Will probably want to have the same testing region each time to ensure that there are no confounding variables
    • A testing region in the middle or near the end of the channel will most likely work out the best because the flow will not be just starting out
    • We will want to have a decent chunk of the channel be the testing region so that we have a lot of room to gather data
      • Maybe about a third
        • That just seems like a good number, I can’t explain why
      • Will have to mark on the chip to know where it begins and ends
  • Chip holder design
    • Must account for the need to access inlet and outlet ports
    • Secures the chip top to the chip bottom
    • Design 1: a chip holder sandwich that is held together with fasteners
      • Pros:
        • Wouldn’t have to be designed exactly to suit the chip
        • Design doesn’t have to be exact because the top and bottom don’t have to be the same size, they just need to cover the chip and hold on tight
        • Could go a ton of different ways with this-circular, square, rectangular, thin, thick, etc.
      •  Cons:
        • Would have to take the holder apart each time we wanted to access the chip
        • Would have to make sure the holder is tight enough to hold the chip bottom to the chip top
        • Would have several components to design (screws, holder top, and holder bottom)
    • Design 2: 1 piece holder that the chip would be slid into
      • Pros:
        • Only designing 1 piece
        • Would be designed exactly for the chip, so would fit it well
      • Cons:
        • It would probably be hard to get the chip in and out because it would have to be a really tight fit
        • Might be hard to design/create
        • Would have to fit the chip exactly, with almost no room for error
  • Access to ports:
    • Can we take apart the holder to access the ports, or is it the sort of thing where once it’s on, it has to stay on?
    • With design 1, the holder would be open on the sides to access the ports
    • With design 2, we would have to make sure that the ports are on the open side of the holder.
    • If we use fasteners, I think it would be wise to have a fastener on each edge of the chip holder
  • Design considerations
    • Which design will be the easiest to use?
      • We don’t want to use the majority of our time putting our chip together and making sure it works, we want to spend the most time on testing our design
    • Which design will help us to best test our variables?
    • Does our design take into consideration crappy data trials?
    • Does it have enough channels to make sure that we can mess up on occasion?
    • Is there enough distance between each of the channels, ports, and edges?
    • Do we actually need all the aspects we have in our design?
  • Treatment variable considerations
    • Materials of surfaces
      • Pros: could see which surface works the best for cell adhesion
      • Cons: would have to make multiple chips, which could potentially cost a lot and would take a lot of effort
    • Different types of yeast cells
    • Such as different aged yeast cells, different varieties, and different numbers, yeast cells in different temps, etc.
      • Pros:
        • Could determine which type of yeast cell is best for adhesion
        • Wouldn’t need multiple chips
        • Wouldn’t need to change the design of the chip at all
      •  Cons:
        • We may not have several varieties of yeast cells available for use
    • Different types of materials to use for the flow
      • Pros:
        • Different
        • Wouldn’t be too expensive to implement
        • Can look at the difference of any number of things for cell adhesion
      •  Cons:
        • Might get yucky
        • Might have bad reactions with the yeast, which would result in confounding variables within our data

Brainstorming Drawing:

IMG_1379