Multifunctional Microfluids

Developments in microfluidics-based platforms for biology experiments are moving rapidly. State-of-the-art instrumentation address three of chief technical challenges identified in the NASA Technology Roadmap for Mechanical Systems, mass reduction, reliability and affordability. With specialization, existing techniques can be translated to microgravity spaceflight. Applications include single cell analysis and microencapsulation which allows literally millions of replicates and fine scale analysis. In contrast, current autonomous flight instrumentation is limited to ~50-100 µl wells, some temperature control with mediocre spectrophotometry and imaging. High throughput and more replicates enables detection of rare events in complex mixtures.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.