By

Mehdi M. Yazdanpanah, PhD

CEO-Founder, NaugaNeedles LLC

DEVELOP TOOLS AND DEVICES TO

INTERFACE BIOMATERIAL-TO-

ELECTRONIC

Presented at:

Kentucky Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference

Aug 2013

NaugaNeedles History

Established in 2007 by name and become operational in 2009

Licensed UofL technology and filed for 4 utility patents

Established its fabrication facility in Louisville KY

Currently have more than 200 customers world wide

Have 8 employees (4 full time and 4 part time)

Supported by SBIR grants from NSF and NIH

Supported by State and local program (e.g. SBIR matching fund, DCI forgivable loan, Vogt award)

Outline

NaugaNeedles platform technology

Our current product and tools

Current R&D toward future product development

Formation of Ag2Ga Needles in Ambient Condition

10 mm A gallium line on top of silver

Highly crystalline Ag2Ga

nanowires are spontaneously

self-assembled in few seconds

inside the gallium line

Ag-coated substrate

10 mm Ga droplet

Ag2Ga nano-needle 120 nm in diameter and 70 µm long

Growing from a melted drop of gallium at room temperature

SELECTIVE GROWTH IN AMBIENT CONDITION

200 mm

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

10

mm

Gallium substrate

Array of silver coated tips

Tips are not visible at this magnification

30 mm

Nanoneedles Batch Fabrication

Mechanical Ultra sensitive cantilever

(k < 0.1 mN/m, f0 > 100 KHz)

E = 84 ± 1 Gpa

Electrical Highly conductive:

comparable to platinum and copper

High current capability: 5 mA

Thermal:

Melting point: Experimentally measured: 950 ºC,

• Long term stability in air

• A thin layer of oxide forms around the nanowire and

protect the rest

Highly resistant to Reactive Ion Etching

PROPERTIES OF NANONEEDLES IN A GLANCE

Example of NaugaNeedles Products

5 mm

Customers: Researchers ( e.g. material scientist, biologist,

chemist, pharmaceutical industry)

8 types of products and more than 100 part number is

currently offered

More details at http://nauganeedles.com/products.html

CURRENT R&D TOWARD FUTURE PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT

Metrology tools for MEMS and

semiconductor industry

Device for Capturing Circulating Tumor

Cell in Human Blood

Gap in

Metrology

Tools

GAP IN METROLOGY TOOLS IN

MICROSTRUCTURES IMAGING

(a) (b)

spring loaded kinematic

mount

Tuning fork

Alumina Chip

Vib

rate

d N

ee

dle

in a

ctio

n

Preamplifier board

Nanoneedle

NANOTOUCH FOR SIDEWALL SCANNING AND DEPTH MEASUREMENTS AT MICROSCALE

NaugaNeedles in collaboration with InSituTec is

developing the NanoTouch to address the gap in

metrology

Results of Sidewall Imaging Using NanoTouch

Depth Measurement Using NanoTouch

A Handheld detector to detect and capture low dose Circulating Tumor

Cell (CTC) in 1 ml of blood

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are cells that detach from

primary tumors and circulate in the blood stream

Early detection of low counts of CTCs in patient blood

sample can be used as a valuable indicator for diagnosis

How can 1 to 10 CTCs mixed with 5 billion Red and White

blood cells be detected?

PROBLEM REGARDING DETECTION AND CAPTURING OF LOW DOSE CTC

EXAMPLE OF A MICROCHIP CTC CAPTURING DEVICE

Detection Method:

florescence

microscopy

Capturing method:

micropillar array

EXAMPLE OF A MICRO FLUIDIC DEVICE FOR CTC CAPTURING

Capturing method: microstructure array

Detection Method: florescence microscopy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40881967/ns/health-cancer/

CTC

RBC

WBC

A

THE PROPOSED MECHANISM FOR CTC CAPTURING AND COUNTING

SELECTIVE CAPTURING MECHANISM USING METALLIC NANONEEDLES ARRAY

Biotinylated

Antibody

Neutravidin

GMBS

Silane

A CTC from a MCF-7

cell line stuck to a

nanoneedle in the array

10

µm

PRELIMINARY RESULT OF CAPTURING INDIVIDUAL CTC

In Summary

Briefly introduced NaugaNeedles history and the platform technology

Future device development for depth and sidewall imaging for MEMS and semiconductor industry

Preliminary results for developing a blood test kit for capturing and counting circulating tumor cells

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