3D Printed Microfluidic Platform for Non-Invasive Smart-Agriculture Sample Collection

The goal of this project is o advance the development and capacity of hydroponic “urban growing” smart-crops by developing a low-cost, minimally-invasive monitoring device to provide feedback for nutritional regulation. However, conventional analytical techniques are inherently destructive and sacrificial in nature and cannot be conducted constantly, limiting the amount of obtainable feedback and response when optimizing and plant growth and yield. We propose a open system microfluidic recirculation concept with a droplet interface to form contact with plant fluids to establish equilibrium between a plant's natural fluids and an analytical device and analyze changes in microchip fluid concentrations to serve as an indicator to the changes in the plant fluid concentration levels.