The Design, Fabrication, and Magnetic Actuation of a Microactuator to Accomplish Propulsion and Large Deflection in Viscous and Elastic Environments
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- March 22, 2019
- Creator
-
Fiser, Briana Lee
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Abstract
- Biomimetics is the study of the structure and function of biological organisms, properties, or substances to inform or inspire the creation of artificial mimics. Nature's evolutionarily evolved answers to its own obstacles can become great solutions to our problems in the fields of physics, materials science, and engineering. The field of biomimetics has both led to technological advances and utilized biomimetic systems to glean knowledge about their biological inspirations. I have developed a single biomimetic system which both mimics a biological system well enough to inform biology and is capable of advancing technology. This biomimetic system is composed of novel core-shell microrods that closely mimic the size of biological cilia and generate fluid transport in both viscous and viscoelastic fluids. Complex biological processes such as the determination of left-right asymmetry in the vertebrate embryonic node and mucociliary clearance in the lung are dependent on the successful transport of fluids, both buffer-like and viscoelastic. A biomimetic system such as the one I have developed allows us to compare cilia-driven transport in both aqueous and viscoelastic fluids. In addition, I have used arrays of these core-shell microrods, comprising a flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) core surrounded by a 100 nm shell of nickel, to assess the time evolution of fluid properties at the microscale, such as the formation of blood clots, which act to stem the flow of blood in the event of trauma or tissue damage. Using this system as an assay for the onset of clot development results in clinically relevant clotting time measurements. I will discuss these applications for the use of this biomimetic cilia system, as well as the system's design parameters and the fabrication procedure.
- Date of publication
- May 2012
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Superfine, Richard
- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2012
- Language
- Publisher
Relations
- Parents:
This work has no parents.