Microscale Tissue Dicing Device Using Parallel Blade Arrays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for mincing or dicing tissue into uniform micro-scale pieces are imprecise, labor-intensive, and introduce contamination risks, with existing tools like manual dissection and tissue grinders producing non-uniform fragments, while laser capture microdissection is slow and limited to thin slices.
Innovation Solution
A microscale dicing device (μDicer) with a hollow array of blades spaced hundreds of micrometers apart, fabricated using isotropic and anisotropic etching, capable of cutting tissues into uniformly sized sub-millimeter fragments, with optional serrations and made from materials like silicon, glass, plastic, or metal, allowing for parallel processing and reduced mask fabrication time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual dissection methods are used, then operation flexibility is maintained, but manufacturing precision and productivity deteriorate due to non-uniform fragment sizes and labor-intensive processes
Solution Approach 1:
The device segments the tissue cutting function into multiple parallel blades arranged in arrays, enabling simultaneous cutting of multiple tissue pieces. This segmentation allows uniform fragment sizes to be achieved across many samples at once, resolving the contradiction between precision and productivity by distributing the cutting task across numerous identical cutting elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces manual mechanical dissection with an automated microfabricated blade array system. The precisely engineered blades with controlled geometries substitute for human hand movements, ensuring uniform fragment sizes while enabling high-throughput processing through parallel operation of multiple blades.
2Manufacturing precision
If laser capture microdissection is used, then manufacturing precision improves for extracting cell clusters, but productivity deteriorates due to serial processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The blade array is segmented into multiple independent cutting elements that operate simultaneously in parallel. This allows many tissue fragments to be extracted at the same time rather than sequentially, resolving the time loss issue while maintaining the precision of individual fragment extraction through controlled blade geometries.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from serial processing in one dimension to parallel processing across a two-dimensional blade array. Multiple blades arranged in rows and columns enable simultaneous extraction of numerous fragments, adding a spatial dimension to the processing capability and dramatically reducing total processing time while maintaining extraction precision.
3Productivity
If tissue grinders or homogenizers are used, then productivity improves through mechanical processing, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to broad size distribution of resulting fragments
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single grinding surface, the device segments the cutting function into multiple discrete blades with precise spacing. Each blade creates controlled cuts, and the collective action of all blades produces uniform fragment sizes across the entire tissue sample, maintaining precision while achieving high productivity through parallel processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the fundamental parameter of fragment size control from post-processing selection to during-processing determination. By precisely controlling blade geometry, spacing, and tissue feeding parameters, uniform fragment sizes are generated directly during cutting, eliminating the need for subsequent size selection while maintaining high processing speed.
4Device complexity
If manual mincing is used, then device complexity is minimized, but reliability deteriorates due to contamination risk and non-uniform fragment production
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces manual mechanical operations with an automated microfabricated device. The precisely manufactured blade array eliminates variability introduced by human operators, ensuring consistent fragment uniformity. The closed design of the blade array also minimizes contamination risk while maintaining relatively simple device architecture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The μDicer efficiently cuts tissues into uniform microfragments, improving precision and speed compared to manual methods and existing tools, with reduced contamination risk and the ability to process a variety of tissue types, including soft materials.
Implementation Method 1
The blades of the μDicer may be composed of silicon and fabricated using a combination of isotropic and anisotropic etching
Implementation Method 2
The blades of the μDicer may be composed of silicon and fabricated using a combination of isotropic and anisotropic etching
Implementation Method 3
A single silicon oxide etch mask is used in a dry silicon etcher for both a tapered etch to form the microblades, and an anisotropic etch to form the through-holes
Data Source
AI summary
A microscale biological tissue cutting device is made of a horizontal array of identically shaped polygonal through holes between vertically-oriented blades which form the sides of the polygonal through holes. Each of the through holes has a width less than 1 mm. The blades are joined at vertices of the polygonal through holes and have vertical peaks at the vertices. The vertical peaks have heights in the range 1-200 μm above a lowest height of a cutting edge of the blades. The blades may be made of a material such as silicon, glass, plastic, resin, or metal.