I-Corps: Acoustic tweezing elastometry

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lies in novel non-contact technology for rheological testing of biological materials, polymeric liquids, and complex fluids. When used in healthcare industry, this acoustic tweezing rheometry technology allows for fast and reliable assessment of blood coagulation using small blood samples collected by a finger prick instead of venipuncture. Additionally, photo-optical tests used in plasma coagulation assays can be integrated in the acoustic tweezing device with viscoelastic tests used in whole blood analysis. The acoustic tweezing technology can dramatically improve the quality of care for millions of trauma, major surgery and coagulation disorders patients in the United States and worldwide. When used in petroleum industry, the potential application of the technology is reliable and accurate measurement of rheology and aging of crude oils, which is important for formulating optimal strategies for their extraction and transportation. In chemical and pharmaceutical industries, the technology could be very useful for preparation of polymer materials with required properties and small-scale containerless processing of unique polymer materials that lack impurities generated during polymer contact with solid walls. This I-Corps project further develops a non-contact acoustic tweezing technology in which a drop of a fluid sample is levitated in air by acoustic radiation forces and its time-dependent rheological properties are measured from drop shape changes. Key disruptive features of this technology, tested using the laboratory prototype, are the increased reliability and accuracy due to non-contact measurement, the ability to assess temporal changes in rheological properties during processes such as polymerization and coagulation, small sample volume requirement and relatively short procedure time. The goal of this project is to do focused customer discovery work in the healthcare, petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical industries to evaluate the commercial potential of the acoustic tweezing technology.