Reflecting on the recent Earth Day, it seems that innovation has always been the key to solving problems. From laser inventors Schawlow and Townes to the original Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Hewlett and Packard, creative thinkers in science and engineering have tackled the world’s problems and turned them into opportunities for innovating solutions. Today’s climate change…
Speed is at the center of today’s world, especially as biotech, medical device, microelectronics and consumer products companies vie to get new innovations to market ahead of their competition. From rapid prototyping and iterative process development to high volume manufacturing, quick parts fabrication is essential every step of the way. Looking to exponentially accelerate our…
Since IBM’s development in 1989 of SU-8 photoresist for use as a key component for high-resolution microelectronics manufacturing, other industries have adopted the photosensitive polymer for a wide range of applications. Whether fabricating microfluidics, micro pillars and cylinders, tiny gears and cantilevers, or optical waveguides, SU-8’s unique material properties expand the capabilities of miniature products. …
Perhaps the greatest benefit to being a graduate student is the opportunity to work with faculty who are conducting innovative research at the forefront of their fields. Biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate Christos Michas is doubly fortunate since his area of study at Boston University [BU] combines the micro-scale 3D printing work of physicist Alice White…
2018 has proven to be yet another great year to be working in manufacturing, especially building micro devices for biotech, microfluidics, cancer research, medical diagnostics, microelectronics, consumer products and more. Our customers continue to challenge us with problems that push the advanced manufacturing technical envelope. We especially appreciate these opportunities since we work with so…
All complex systems are made of fundamental building blocks that underpin basic functions, processes and connections. The brain’s seemingly infinite ability to carry on a wide range of capabilities from speech to sensory perception is no different: the nerve cell and the synaptic junction are the elementary units upon which all brain activity is…
Potomac has been at the forefront of microfluidics device manufacturing and most of our customers’ early applications have been strongly centered on medical work, such as cancer research and Point-Of-Care Diagnostics. A strong example is work being done in Ester Segal’s Lab at the Israel Institute of Technology [Technion] to increase antibiotic susceptibility detection speeds. …
For the past few decades, we’ve been living in the Third Industrial Revolution where advanced manufacturing meant production utilizing computers and automation. CAD-driven machine tools, robots and lasers were the order of the day. In recent years, Industry 4.0 has come on the manufacturing scene. What does this change mean and how does it impact…
Back in 1776, colonial America could not survive without the ingenuity of its people to devise the things needed for everyday life. Supplies were a sea passage away and many of the colonies were rural, requiring long overland deliveries by horse-drawn wagons. One would expect that people who were willing to venture to a new…
In the last few years, microfluidics has come into its own as a process and also a micro-manufacturing technology. The methodology is rapidly changing many diverse fields from Point-of-Care diagnostics to cancer research, environmental studies to Organs-on-a-Chip, drug discovery to micro fuel cells, and much more. By using a small drop of fluid, microfluidics speeds…
