News/Updates

April 2017

OXYGEN-PROMOTED CATALYST SINTERING INFLUENCES NUMBER DENSITY, ALIGNMENT, AND WALL NUMBER OF VERTICALLY ALIGNED CARBON NANOTUBES

Wenbo Shi, Jinjing Li, Erik S. Polsen, C. Ryan Oliver, Yikun Zhao, Eric R. Meshot, Michael Barclay, D. Howard Fairbrother, A. John Hart and Desiree L. Plata.  Oxygen-promoted catalyst sintering influences number density, alignment, and wall number of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. (2017) Nanoscale 2017, 9, 5222-5233. [DOI: 10.1039/C6NR09802A]

A lack of synthetic control and reproducibility during vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) synthesis has stifled many promising applications of organic nanomaterials. Oxygen-containing species are particularly precarious in that they have both beneficial and deleterious effects and are notoriously difficult to control. Here, we demonstrated diatomic oxygen’s ability, independent of water, to tune oxide-supported […]

March 2017

Progress towards blood brain barrier chip to be presented at AACR 2017

We will be attending the annual AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) meeting in D.C. April 1-5 to present our progress towards an organ on a chip model to study breast cancer metastasis in the brain.

This work provides an important foundation to apply microfluidics in translational identification of breast cancer clones that may contribute to aggressive brain metastasis.  Please join us and I look forward to meeting you.

December 2016

CONFORMAL ROBOTIC STEREOLITHOGRAPHY

Adam G. Stevens*, C. Ryan Oliver*, Matthieu Kirchmeyer, Jieyuan Wu, Lillian Chin, Erik S. Polsen, Chad Archer, Casey Boyle, Jenna Garber, A. John Hart. Conformal Robotic Stereolithography. (2016) 3D PRINTING AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING 2016. [DOI: 10.1089/3dp.2016.0042]

Additive manufacturing by layerwise photopolymerization, commonly called stereolithography (SLA), is attractive due to its high resolution and diversity of materials chemistry. However, traditional SLA methods are restricted to planar substrates and planar layers that are perpendicular to a single-axis build direction. Here, we present a robotic system that is capable of maskless layerwise photopolymerization on curved surfaces, enabling production of large-area conformal patterns and the construction of […]

November 2016

MRS 2016: Template-Free Photoanchoring of Micro-Scale Objects for Manufacturing of Ultra-Miniature Electronic Devices

We will be presenting work on a new approach to scaling down assembly of micro-electronic components on flexible substrates at the Materials Research Society (MRS) conference in Boston.
It would be a pleasure to talk with you if you attend.

9:45 AM – BM4.5.05
Template-Free Photoanchoring of Micro-Scale Objects for Manufacturing of Ultra-Miniature Electronic Devices
C. Ryan Oliver , Lillian Chin , David Dellal , Nathan Spielberg , John Lewandowski , A. John Hart

The availability of higher performance microprocessors, communication chips, and inertial sensors with ever smaller dimensions has driven the miniaturization of passive IC components as well as the development of high-throughput surface mount assembly technology. Currently, circuit […]

October 2016

NIH T32 Cancer training fellowship awarded to Dr. Oliver

Dr. Oliver was awarded a T32 posdoctoral cancer training fellowship through the NIH at the University of Michigan Cancer Center.  This prestigious training grant will enable him to interact with and train under prominent cancer researchers and Bio-Engineers at the University of Michigan with collaborations aimed at preventing and treating breast cancer.

September 2016

MBSTP Seminar Sept. 7 on additive manufacturing of cells and microbeads

Dr. C. Ryan Oliver
Department of Internal Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Michigan

Tuesday, 9/27/2016 at 11:30am
Boulevard Room at Pierpont Commons

 
An additive manufacturing approach to printing cells and microbeads within digitally addressed hydrogel matrices
 
Rapid prototyping of new hydrogel-based structures, including tissue scaffolds, organs-on-chip, and hybrid bioelectronic materials, requires flexible fabrication techniques capable of positioning multiple materials in 2D and 3D with micro-scale resolution and accuracy. Despite their impressive accomplishments, current methods for micro-scale additive manufacturing are limited to a single material (e.g. projection micro stereolithography) or require sequential or parallel use of multiple nozzles to deposit different materials.  An alternative approach would […]

March 2016

Progress towards metastasis chip to be presented at AACR April 16-20

We will be attending the annual AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) meeting in New Orleans to present our progress towards an organ on a chip model to study breast cancer metastasis in the brain.

This work is being presented by Megan Altemus and was originally lead by Brendan Leung.  I hope to see you there or send me a message and I’ll be happy to discuss what we are working on.

 

 

HIGH-FIDELITY REPLICA MOLDING OF GLASSY LIQUID CRYSTALLINE POLYMER MICROSTRUCTURES

Hangbo Zhao, Jeong Jae Wie, Davor Copic, C. Ryan Oliver, Alvin Orbaek White, Sanha Kim, A. John Hart.  Scalable high-fidelity fabrication of glassy liquid crystalline polymer microstructures by replica molding. (2015) ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 2016.  [DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b00785]

Liquid crystalline polymers have recently been engineered to exhibit complex macroscopic shape adaptivity, including optically- and thermally- driven bending, self-sustaining oscillation, torsional motion, and three dimensional folding. Miniaturization of these novel materials is of great interest for both fundamental study of processing conditions and for the development of shape-changing microdevices. Here, we present a scalable method for high-fidelity replica molding of glassy […]

January 2016

ON-DEMAND ISOLATION AND MANIPULATION OF C. ELEGANS BY IN VITRO MASKLESS PHOTOPATTERNING.

C.R. Oliver, E. Gourgou, D. Bazopoulou, N. Chronis, A. John Hart. On-demand isolation and manipulation of C. elegans by in vitro maskless photopatterning. PLOS One 2016. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145935

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a model organism for understanding aging and studying animal behavior. Microfluidic assay techniques have brought widespread advances in C.elegans research; however, traditional microfluidic assays such as those based on soft lithography require time-consuming design and fabrication cycles and offer limited flexibility in changing the geometric environment during experimentation. We present a technique for maskless photopatterning of a biocompatible hydrogel on an NGM (Agar) substrate, enabling dynamic manipulation of […]

January 2016

New postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan

I’m pleased to announce I have taken a new position as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan starting today.

 

I will be joining Prof. Shuichi Takayama and Prof. Sofia Merjever in developing organ on a chip tools to study breast cancer metastasis in the brain.  I’m excited to apply the skills and knowledge learned with Prof. Hart to develop an integrated manufacturing approach to developing organ on a chip devices.