Demonstrates Commercialization of Polymer Laminate Technology (PLT)

Redondo Beach, CA (April 8, 2009) – ALine has been recognized as a design and supply partner for Osmetech Molecular Diagnostics, a winner in the In Vitro Diagnostics category for their eSensor-XT8, in the twelfth annual Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) competition. Results were announced in April issue of MD&DI (Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry) magazine, published this week.

Dr. Leanna Levine, PhD, President and Founder of ALine expressed her enthusiasm; “The journey with Osmetech in the development of the microfluidic recirculation pump in the XT8 eSensor was an amazing validation of the value that microfluidics brings to these pioneering, multiplexed diagnostic platforms. The work with Osmetech has been an exciting and rewarding adventure for ALine, as it also demonstrated our unique approach to microfluidic prototyping using polymer laminate technology (PLT).”

As a supply and design partner, ALine routinely delivered prototypes with a typical three to five day turn around. This allowed Osmetech to shorten the development time, resolve critical issues, and to compress the design-fabricate-test cycle so that subtle differences could be observed and incorporated into the next generation design.

“Osmetech has demonstrated the viability of a truly pioneering fluidic design and deserves recognition”, remarked Dr. Levine, “and we are proud to be honored for our part in their success.”

ALine is entering its 7th year of operation, supporting the development of novel microfluidic devices with sophisticated functionality and anticipates substantial growth for this industry. While many other areas struggle, the need for better and more accurate diagnostics is still driving the development of Bio-MEMS and related technologies to new heights and increased revenues.

ALine creates a bridge for the commercialization of novel microfluidic platforms using microfabrication methods that enable pioneering medical diagnostic products and improved assays. ALine does this by providing rapid prototyping, engineering support, and low to mid-volume manufacture of Lab-on-a-Chip devices. A description of our capabilities can be found here.

About the Award:

Sponsored by MD&DI and organized by Canon Communications LLC, MDEA is the premier awards program for the medical technology community. It recognizes the achievements of medical device manufacturers, their suppliers, and the many people behind the scenes. MDEA-winning entries excel in the areas of product innovation, design and engineering achievement, end-user benefit, and cost-effectiveness in manufacturing and healthcare delivery.

A comprehensive review of the entries was performed by an impartial, multidisciplinary panel of third-party jurors with expertise in biomedical engineering, human factors, industrial design, medicine, and diagnostics. The 2009 jury selected 32 winners in 10 medical product categories. The award ceremony will be held June 4, during the Medical Design and Medical Manufacturing East 2008 Conference and Exposition at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

The award is based upon descriptive materials submitted to a panel of jurors; the jurors did not verify the accuracy of any submissions or of any claims made and did not test the item to which the award was given. For more information Contact: Dr. Leanna Levine President ALine, Inc. 877-707-8575 llevine@alineinc.com official announcement

ALine’s microfluidic flowcells press-apply to glass slides, ideal for microscopy or spectroscopy.

Many surface-based assays require a fluidic interface to a well characterized surface. Typically, a glass slide that is functionalized, with a patterned or spotted array, or a gold-coated slide, provides a well characterized surface and affords a simple interface to a detection system.

ALine’s custom laminate fabrication capability offers a range of options in materials, functionality and complexity to create easy-to-use, robust microfluidic interfaces to glass slides. Bonding materials with a track record of success in biomedical applications are used to attach flowcells and fluidic components directly to the glass surface with a pressure sensitive adhesive.

Channel heights as small as 12.5 microns tall and 100 microns wide with alignment registration to 50 microns between layers are available.

ALine’s flexible and rapid prototyping of these flowcells has supported Rockville, MD-based TetraCore, a biotechnology company focused on field-portable assays and instruments for veterinary, domestic preparedness, and clinical applications. Dr. William Nelson, President of TetraCore, explains how ALine’s capability has supported their product development effort, “We have been testing different configurations for the fluidic channel and the chamber. For example, we needed to generate cartridges with a small flow cell to deliver materials to the low-density microarray in a process called fluid-forced discrimination. Because this is a magnetic bead-based assay, we were examining different methods for trapping beads in the process and excluding beads from some functions. With polymer laminate fabrication we can change the configuration of the fluidic channel and the chamber of the prototype and within a few days after submitting a CAD drawing, have a new device to test whose parameters are close to the finished product. There is no expensive tooling and no waiting around for injection molding.”

Dr. Leanna Levine, president of ALine commented, “TetraCore’s development needs were readily met with flowcells that attach to the glass surface containing the microarray. A simple press-apply flowcell has allowed TetraCore to quickly optimize the geometry and run many hundreds of tests. We will be pleased to support them through product launch.”

Press Contact:
Dr. Leanna Levine
Email: llevine@alineinc.com
Phone: 310-707-8575

Download PDF here.

Microfluidic Cuvettes Offer Sub Microliter Volumes, Real-time Monitoring, and Sub-millimeter Path length Matched Cells in High Quality, UV Transparent Plastics.

Redondo Beach, CA – February 18, 2008 – ALine’s newest family of ultra-low volume, disposable UV transparent micro-fluidic cuvettes for fluorescence, the FluoroVette™, and absorbance, the SpecVette™, offer unparalleled functionality, robust design, and versatility through customization with membranes, electrodes, and valves. Both offer easy-fill pipette ports or hose barb adaptors for flowing applications. ALine’s unique family of microfluidics cuvettes work in standard laboratory instrumentation, such as a spectrometer or sit nicely on a microscope stage. Rapid and cost effective customization expands the possibilities of bio micro fluidic research. FluoroVettes hold 50 mL with nanomolar range fluorescence detection sensitivity. The rugged, and high quality design provides a cost savings of 90% over traditional quartz sub-micro cuvettes. The patent-pending design eliminates air bubbles, can be used as a flowcell, with UV transparency to 220 nm. Customization further permits applications for bead-based displacement assays or membrane based reactions or as a dual chamber design for diffusion experiments across a membrane. The thin transparent window permits high magnification on a microscope stage, while the universal adaptor permits ready interface to a standard single sample fluorimeter.

The SpecVette, for absorbance, is available in path lengths of 250, 500, 1000 microns, and only requires a few micro liters of sample solution, eliminating many challenges associated with measuring highly concentrated samples using traditional short path cuvettes. Economical and disposable, SpecVettes are path length matched and have 1% to 2% error across the entire UV-VIS spectrum for twenty five different cuvettes. A universal adapter allows SpecVettes to be used with any spectrometer with a z-height of 12 to 20 mm. Other features include UV transparency to 220 nm, and an ‘easy to fill’ pipette tip port. Optional flowcell connections or transparent interdigitated electrodes further expand its capabilities for specialty applications.

This exclusive technology is available from ALine Inc. ALine Inc. is a leading supplier of high functionality bio micro solutions to biological, healthcare, chemical, environmental, instrumentation and research markets. Products and services include: Customized products for mammalian, stem cell, or suspended cell culture, Flowcells and multiplexed systems that interface to optical and electrochemical sensors, the MicroSlide with pnuematically controlled valves that support low dead volume, multi-step analyses with on-board reagents for the study of bio-compatible materials, and extensive full-service design, modeling, and fabrication of Lab-on-a-Chip devices.

Press Contact:
Dr. Leanna Levine
Email: llevine@alineinc.com
Phone: 310-707-8575

Easy- fill SpecVette™ permits dilution-free measurement of red wine samples in a disposable cell

Redondo Beach, California – August 27, 2007 –The quality and health benefits of beverages such as wine and tea are associated with the anti-oxidant properties of naturally occurring phenolic compounds. Measurement of these strongly UV absorbing components is not possible without dilution using a standard cuvette, complicating the routine determination of a large number of samples, and potentially altering the results.

The 250 micron path length SpecVette permits measurement of red wine samples across the entire spectrum, from 220 to 900 nm, in a single disposable cuvette. With the high resolution (.02 nm) and rapid spectral averaging possible with Ocean Optics HR4000 spectrometer, errors of 2% or less are possible, permitting multi-component analysis of samples of interest.

“Working with winemakers and in partnership with Ocean Optics, we developed a short path cuvette that meets the needs of winemakers and researchers in enology and viticulture“, explained Dr. Leanna Levine, CEO and Founder of ALine, “As with all of our custom products, we work closely with our customers to develop bioanalytical solutions, in this case, a high quality and cost effective device for researching or benchmarking the phenolics in red wine using a simple spectroscopic method.”

ALine’s short path SpecVette is available in 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0 mm path lengths, useful for a variety of sample types. The cuvettes are easily filled by capillary action using a simple disposable dropper or they can be filled and aspirated using a 20- 200 uL pipetter. The SpecVette slides into a 1 cm x 1 cm sample holder for use in a standard spectrometer. The SpecVette is UV transparent, and disposable so that no cleaning is required, and no chance of introducing contamination to ruin results.

A selector guide for a wide range of ALine’s custom “Build-Your-Own-Cuvettes” ™ is now available on the ALine web site. Consult with ALine for additional configurations.

SpecVette application note for UV-VIS Spectroscopy of Red Wines
Custom Bio Micro Cuvette Selector Guide

Press Contact:
Dr. Leanna Levine
Email: llevine@alineinc.com
Phone: 310-707-8575

Complex, laser-patterned electrode pair sandwiches ALine’s custom flowcell, supporting successful Phase I SBIR for CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC)

Redondo Beach, California – July 25, 2007 –Intelligent discrimination of target particles of interest from a complex liquid matrix is of critical interest in biodefense and homeland security applications. A miniaturized system for dielectrophoresis (DEP) based particle and cell sorting is being developed by CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC), Huntsville, AL.

Important for the realization of miniaturized and multiplexed systems is the requirement for laminar flow and the movement of particles/cells in response to an electric field. Such a system requires the use of micron-sized flow channels with a very small electrode gap (10 – 50 microns) to obtain the electric field strengths necessary to effect particle sorting at nominal values of the applied voltage.

To achieve the design requirements, ALine used a laminate fabrication approach to design a simple flowcell that allowed the transparent patterned ITO electrodes on glass to be aligned and bonded directly to the top and bottom of the flow channel, as shown in Figure 1. Using our approach dozens of prototypes, which were supported in a custom fabricated acrylic holder allowing electrical connections and easy observation under a microscope, permitted direct observation of fluorescently tagged particles.

“The first generation prototypes successfully demonstrated the proof of concept, which lead to Phase II funding for our program”, remarked Dr. Kapil Pant, Manager, Biodefense Technology, at CFDRC. “We appreciate ALine’s responsiveness and ability to bring together cutting-edge fabrication techniques to produce high quality functional prototypes.”

Dr. Levine, founder of ALine concurred, “Our ability to create laser patterned electrodes, without the hassle of the traditional masking and wet chemical methods, provided a cost effective and flexible means for incorporating the complex electrode design required. In addition, alignment and direct bonding to the top and bottom of the flowcell using a bio compatible pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA), offered a convenient, approach for creating the channel heights needed.”

The laser patterned circuits had features separated by 40 microns, with a minimum feature size of 10 microns possible. The patterning process requires no tooling. Because they are bonded to the flowcell with a PSA, they can be removed and re-used in a new set of flowcells.

In the absence of applied electric field (DEP OFF), the bulk of the particles continue along the main channel with some entering the side channel due to the hydrodynamic flow split. However, upon energizing the electrodes (DEP ON), all of the particles are deflected into the side channel. Additional information on CFDRC’s programs in the area of micro- and nano-systems can be found by clicking here.

Gold interdigitated electrodes have also been successfully developed which were bonded to a flowcell using biocompatible PSA s. Patterned gold or ITO coated materials can be either glass or plastic and are transparent for viewing under a microscope.

A simple approach for incorporating an electrode is to replace it with one of the window film materials in our standard product, the FluoroVette. This allows spectroscopic observation of changes in the sample cell using a standard spectrophotometer or fluorimeter.

The versatility of our laminate fabrication approach and the ability to incorporate complex patterned circuits and electrodes, heaters, valves, and porous membranes, offers life science researchers and product developers a valuable tool box for the realization of novel bio micro fluidic products.

ALine is a leading supplier of high functionality bio micro solutions to biological, healthcare, chemical, environmental, instrumentation and research markets.

ALine’s Custom Products Page
ALine’s Custom Design Worksheet

Press Contact:
Dr. Leanna Levine
Email: llevine@alineinc.com
Phone: 310-707-8575

Custom Protein Sample Cell, developed for Cornell researchers, combines improved throughput with ease of use.

Redondo Beach, California – June 19, 2007 – An important and new technique in protein structure determination in solution is made possible with Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS). Its application is increasing exponentially, and provides a powerful tool which, when used in combination with other techniques, allows elucidation and correlation of the functional and structural domains of different classes of proteins and protein complexes in solution. The tedious task of filling and sealing precious samples of concentrated protein was simplified with an easy-to-use cell, pictured here, designed and developed by ALine in collaboration with Nozomi Ando, a graduate student in Sol Gruner’s group at Cornell University.

“We had wonderful results with the SAXS cells you recently designed with Nozomi Ando; a paper has already been published.” remarked Dr. Gillilan, staff scientist at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (MacCHESS) about the custom cells. He further noted, “Your adhesive laminate [used to bond the mica film] is the main reason the cells have worked so well for us.”

The paper reporting results with ALine’s ” ‘homemade’ cuvette of a plastic micro-machined disk” with its precision bio-micro-fluidic technology, was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and is referenced here J Biol Chem. 2006 December 15; 281(50): 38122-38126.

Dr. Leanna Levine, CEO and Founder of ALine commented. “These custom cells are another example of the advantage our fabrication platform has in providing researchers and product developers a unique bio micro solution that is either impossible or prohibitively expensive to accomplish any other way. In this case the added functionality of the pressure sensitive adhesive on the top and the bottom of the cell eliminated the messy and error-prone step of manually gluing a thin mica X-ray window film to the cell. ALine’s transparent polymer laminate layers also aided the research team in filling the devices with their protein solution samples.”

The custom bio micro cell fabricated using ALine’s unique laminate manufacturing platform, pictured here, is about the size of a dime. The channel leading from the outer edge to the center is used for sample introduction, and the notches on either side facilitate insertion into the synchrotron.

Using ALine’s batch fabrication process, 500 cells were manufactured in a single run. The up-coming fabrication run will incorporate design changes to make sample introduction easier, highlighting the flexibility of ALine’s unique laser patterned, polymer laminate fabrication platform that naturally accommodates further customization without additional investments in unnecessarily expensive re-tooling, common to other manufacturing methods.

ALine’s Custom Products Page
ALine’s Custom Design Worksheet

Press Contact:
Dr. Leanna Levine
Email: llevine@alineinc.com
Phone: 310-707-8575