Facilities
Biosoft joint lab is an experimental and pre-industrial open facility for implementing soft lithography and optical detection for IVD applications. The platform owns all the materials and infrastructure for implementing soft lithography processes, capillary assembly, biochip fabrication, microfluidic integration and optical biodetection.
More specifically, the following specific systems are available in our facility:
- The latest version of the automatic system for multiplexed micro and nano contact printing: Innostamp 40 from Innopsys. (Technical datasheet)
- InnoScan 1100 AL, the highest spatial resolution fluorescence scanner currently available with 3 excitation lasers (488, 532 and 635nm), latest product of Innopsys family of scanners. (Technical datasheet)
- The latest version of the diffractive scanner: Diffrascan, enabling the label free optical detection of multiplexed interacting molecular gratings.
Close to BIOSOFT room are the academic open facilities of LAAS-CNRS:
- The clean room facility (more details) of 1500 m2 (class 100), state of the art platform in nanofabrication, can be employed for the design, fabrication and characterization of the master moulds required for implementing soft-lithography processes.
- The ALIVE platform of 400 m2 (more details) gives access to various lab techniques of molecular and cell biology and to various associated imaging methods. Level 1 and Level 2 zones are now available for the culture of primary and immortal cells, bacteria, yeasts and algae.
- Conventional techniques of optical microscopy mainly relying on fluorescence have been gathered inside a dedicated zone where microfluidic networks can be imaged and recorded in video modes and cell immunostaining can be performed.
- Several fluidic set-ups are also available.
- A dedicated atomic force microscope from JPK (nanoWizard 3) is also widely used in liquid media for molecular coating and pattern characterizations but also for living cell characterization and force spectroscopy.
- Electrochemical techniques are also available with various potensiostat/galavanostats and impedance spectrometers.
- Moreover, as many nanomaterials are embedded in many of our biodevices, several instruments for characterizing (Zetasizer) and manipulating nano-objects, DNA, lipids and other assembling molecules are also available.