Figure 3.

Cleaning and sterilization of the microfluidic devices

The various steps necessary for the sterilization of the microfluidic devices include: drying the microchambers with a compressed air blow gun (A), passing the PDMS microchambers and small Petri dishes in a plasma cleaner to remove impurities (B and C), sticking the PDMS microchambers to the bottom of the small glass Petri dishes, with the motif side facing down (one chamber per Petri dish) to form an irreversible tight seal (D), repeating a cycle of plasma cleaning with the Petri dishes containing the microchambers and their lids (E). The microchambers contained in the small Petri dishes are sterilized under a UV lamp (F) and placed in a 12-cm Petri dish containing a piece of humidified Whatman filter paper, serving as a humidified chamber (G).