International Summer School on Fluidic MEMS

22 August to 9 September 2022 at Jade University

Organised by Jade University - Department of Engineering Sciences and International Office

Experience Reports

Report of a Serbian student (FMEMS 2019)
Report of an Italian student (FMEMS 2019)
Report of an Egyptian student (FMEMS 2019)
Report of a New Zealand student (FMEMS 2019)

Introduction

The Department of Engineering Sciences and the International Office of Jade University offer a three-week summer school on Fluidic MEMS. This course focuses on microfluidic systems, which are a subtopic of Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) concentrating on handling small amounts of fluids.

Microfluidic systems have the potential to change analytic devices in the same way microelectronics did in the past to electronic devices. Possible applications are portable analytical devices like Lab-on-a-chip and point-of-care devices. To use this potential the knowledge about the technology and its usage needs to be spread out. This is the aim of this course; it will give an introduction to the fabrication and usage of microfluidic devices.

The first part of the course covers basics from a physical and technological point of view. The second part continues with the design, calculation and simulation of microfluidic chips. Recent research in biomedical applications is also presented.

The focus of the course is on the engineering point of view for micro fluidic applications especially. The course content is explained using examples and will be directly applied in a project. During this project an analytical standard procedure is transferred to the micro scale and realised as a microfluidic chip. This project includes designing, producing and testing the chip.

The course language is English. The presence of students as well as teachers from foreign countries requires the use of a shared language as the basis of everyday communication and interaction, and gives better motivation than a language course at a home university ever could.

This summer course is addressed to graduate students and requires a Bachelor’s degree for participation. It is a regular part of the Master of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering program at Jade University and is accepted for Master studies by our partner universities.

Preliminary Schedule

Fluidic-MEMS Summer School in Wilhelmshaven 2022
Fluidic-MEMS Summer School in Wilhelmshaven 2022			Date	*Microfluidic Applications in Biomedical Engineering and Sensor Technology* (Graduate students)
22.08.	Mon	Welcome - Workshop "German Language and Culture" - Introduction to courses (afternoon session)
23.08. - 26.08.	Tue	Basics of Microfluidics (Schlüter) H210 / H312 (ICT) (PC-Lab) / Lab
	Wed
	Thur
	Fri
27.08. - 28.08.	Sat	Excursions: Sat: City trip to Bremen, Sun: Mudflat Hike
27.08. - 28.08.	Sun
29.08. - 01.09.	Mon	Microfluidics Engineering (Luque / Gaßmann) H210 / H312 (ICT) (PC-Lab) / Lab
	Tue
	Wed
	Thur
02.09. - 04.09.	Fri	Excursions: Fri: Trip to Löwenstein Medical, Sat: City trip to Oldenburg Sun: Bicycle tour around Wilhelmshaven
	Sat
	Sun
05.09. - 08.09.	Mon	Biomicrofluidics Applications (Pinho / Lima / Gaßmann) H210 / H312 (ICT) (PC-Lab) / Lab
	Tue
	Wed
	Thur
09.09.	Fri	Presentations of project results (all courses together) - Student evaluation Final Award Presentation

Course Abstracts

Basics of Microfluidics

Prof. Dr. Michael Schlüter

In this course an introduction to the topics of microfluidics is given. This includes the origins as well as applications of microfluidics. A comprehensive introduction to the physical principles and the discussion of the differences to the macro world will be part of the course. The fabrication techniques for micro structures will be explained. In the the lab work of this course the students will learn some basic principles of the fabrication of microfluidic structures like softlithography, micro milling and powder blasting. At the end of this lab work the produced structures will be characterized. The results will be presented by the students to share the experiences during the fabrication and characterization process.

Microfluidic Engineering

Prof. Dr. Antonio Luque, Prof. Dr. Stefan Gaßmann

The course microfluidics engineering is a continuation of the introduction course Basics of Microfluidics. Here an insight to the engineering tasks needed to build a microfluidic device is given. The engineering questions are identified that needs to be answered during a development. Mathematical and numerical approaches are shown to answer these questions. This course includes an introduction to CFD methods and highlights the common issues of the CFD approach. Basic calculations will be done by the analytical and the CFD approach the needed effort and the accuracy of the results are compared. As a result the students can use the CFD approach and are aware of common problems.

The knowledge from the course Basics of Microfluidics and from the engineering course are used in a project. The students get the task to design a microfluidic sensor. This can be e.g. a sensor for measuring the Glucose concentration. In an introduction the basic measurement principles are explained. The students need to apply the learned content to first engineer the sensor and second to fabricate the device. The fabricated prototypes are characterized and the results are presented.

Biomicrofluidics Application

Prof. Dr. Diana Pinho, Prof. Dr. Rui Lima, Prof. Dr. Stefan Gaßmann

The objective of this course is to highlight recent research in the area of biomicrofluidics, the application of microfluidic techniques to biological samples. The basic principles and new research in this area are presented. Several approaches of the investigation of blood in micro channels are in the focus of the course. The inspection techniques using optical microscopes and high speed cameras are shown. In a lab class the image analysis of high speed camera images for particle/cell tracing is shown based on freely available software.

Costs and Facts

Background Information

Target group: Graduate students of engineering

Course credits: up to 6 ECTS credits

Location: Jade University in Wilhelmshaven, northern part of Germany

Time frame: 22 August until 9 September 2022

Organizer: Jade University, Department of Engineering Sciences and International Office

Registration

4 April until 15 May 2022
Please use online application form

Application, Course Fee & Funding

General course fee: 500,- €

International students (free movers):
All international students can apply for scholarships and have to submit the following documents by e-mail to Iris Wilters:
Statement of motivation, curriculum vitae, passport copy, most recent grades and a letter of recommendation from a professor.
We will inform you at the beginning of June 2022 whether you are accepted or not.

Students from partner universities (see list below):
Ask your local coordinator to sign up. She/he will tell you about the special costs which your group of students will have to pay.
Please send a statement of motivation, curriculum vitae, passport copy, most recent grades and a letter of recommendation from your local coordinator by e-mail to Iris Wilters.

Students from Jade University:
Students from Jade University have to be registered for autumn semester 2022/23.
Ask the organisation team in Wilhelmshaven for further information and course fees.

Students from abroad may be eligible for a scholarship and will be informed about the possibilities after having handed in their complete application documents.

If you have any questions please contact our International Office, Iris Wilters.

Board & Lodging

We will book a shared room on a houseboat for you, including breakfast (costs to be determined). If you wish to stay in a single room, we recommend to look for a hotel room.

Please note that there are no cooking facilities on the houseboat. You can obtain a low-cost lunch in the university canteen. For dinner you will have to go to restaurants or buy snacks.

Insurance and COVID-19

Please note the general conditions for participation under the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions:

Full COVID-19 vaccination (+ preferably booster) is required (accepted vaccines are Biontech/Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen-Cilag, for detailed information see the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut website). A list of licences for third countries is also available there. Proof of complete vaccination protection must be presented at the International Office of Jade University upon the start of the course.
All students must accept the regulations for wearing mouth-nose protection (e.g. FFP2 mask) while on campus, including during laboratory work and lectures.
Sufficient health insurance cover is a prerequisite for participation in our Summer School; accident and liability insurance is also strongly recommended.

Jade University does not provide insurance cover for students.

Please note the special travel regulations for entering Germany/EU and check the conditions of your health and travel insurance, especially for COVID-19.