Figure 1.

System setup and characterization. (a) Image of the standalone culturing/assay platform. (b(i)) Cross sectional view of the circular micro-channels. Scale bar, 300 μm. (b(ii)) Magnified view of the tubing coil within the PDMS block. (b(iii) Schematic illustrating the turning of the pump shaft as it locally compressed the tubing and drove the fluid flow. (Bb(iv)) Microfluidic device schematic illustrating the dimension of the branched network as well as the overall parallel configuration of the four branching networks on a single device. (c(i)) Flow rate measurement of the four independent flow circuits through the four microfluidic devices, n = 3. (c(ii)) Flow rate measurement of the miniaturized pump determined via PIV in both forward and reversed flow direction (c(iii)) Pump stability under various pressures, n = 3. (c(iv)) Stability of the pump over 4 day period, n = 3. (d) Schematic of the device operation for cell injection, cell culturing, and perfusion assay.