Pavel Levkin

Here, we used two-photon lithography (TPL) in combination with polymerization-induced phase separation to 3D-print complex microstructures with a well-defined nanoporous architecture featuring pores of 420 nm. These structures can be impregnated with functional liquids via capillary action to endow the same micrometer-sized 3D objects with novel properties. For example, we used a fluorinated lubricant to create slippery, superhydrophobic reentrant structures, an ionic liquid to make 3D structures conductive, and fluorescent liquids to achieve localized fluorescence. This versatility in fabricating complex microstructures with tailorable and localized functionalities using a "post-doping" strategy is essential for creating micrometer-sized 3D objects with different properties from the same initial 3D printing ink. 🎄 🎅 🎄 @Cluster3DMM2O onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…

This week´s photo of our amazing research group after Max’s farewell party. Wishing Max all the best in his future endeavors! 💪 One of the greatest advantages of working in academia is that you are constantly surrounded by smart, talented and eternally young people. However, this also means that after 3-4 years in the group, these talented individuals always move on to explore new opportunities.

An interesting unpublished video from the lab showing how a square mL droplet forms when water is placed on a surface patterned with a grid of superhydrophobic (SH) lines and superhydrophilic (SL) spots. The SH lines are approximately 100 µm thick, while the SL squares are about 200 µm. Despite the micrometer-scale grid, the effect is macroscopic, resulting in a square mL droplet.

The video below shows parallel transfer of HEK293 cell spheroids from one droplet microarray to another one by sandwiching. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad…

Ever wondered how to perform tens of thousands of nanoliter droplet manipulations in a truly parallel fashion? Here we show a method that enables parallel medium exchange in thousands of nanoliter-scale cell cultures, facilitates the extraction of nanoliter-sized aliquots from thousands of nanodroplets, and allows for the simultaneous transfer of single-cell spheroids between individual 200 nL droplets—in seconds and across thousands of droplets at once! 💪 As throughput increases to thousands or even hundreds of thousands of experiments, parallelization becomes really essential, as any sequential operations would take huge amount of time. Thus, in ultra-high-throughput screenings, even simple tasks like medium exchange can become bottlenecks. Miniaturization is also necessary at this scale to keep reagent volumes and costs manageable. Here, we show how to achieve perfectly parallel manipulation of thousands of nanoliter droplets using a sandwiching device and open droplet microarrays. Paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad… We demonstrate high-throughput medium replacement at the nanoliter scale, maintaining high cell viability on the array for up to 7 days for cells and up to 14 days for cell spheroids. Additionally, we achieve highly parallel aliquot uptake from nanoliter droplets, enabling non-destructive cell viability assessments. Furthermore, this method enables the parallel transfer of cell spheroids between different DMAs, allowing rapid transfer and pooling of spheroids in seconds. These advances significantly enhance the capabilities of the Droplet Microarray platform, enabling long-term cell culture in nanoliter droplets and parallel sampling for high-throughput manipulation of cells or spheroids. This broadens the scope of potential applications in fields such as cell-based (ultra) high-throughput screening, formation of complex 3D cell models for drug screening, and microtissue engineering. Congratulations to all the authors, and especially to Joaquín E. Urrutia Gómez, Mei, Nikolaj K Mandsberg, Julius von Padberg, Julian A. Serna, Sida Liu, Markus Reischl and Anna Popova! 🙏👍👍🤗👍🥳 The video below shows parallel transfer of cell spheroids from one array to another one by sandwiching.

Congratulations to @BraseStefan Verena Weinhardt and Christian Koos! 💪

Functional Surfaces and Micropatterns: from Superhydrophobicity to Drug Discovery. Lecture at the Wiley´s Advanced Summit in 2024. Many thanks to the entire Wiley team and all the editors of Advanced journals for organizing this wonderful symposium.🤓

eDMA: an array of 200 nL droplets, each positioned on three tiny microelectrodes, enabling real-time, label-free impedance-based monitoring of drug responses in just a few hundred cancer cells. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad…

@gokhandemirels @AdvSciNews Thanks Gokhan!

It was an inspiring talk by Prof. Pavel Levkin from KIT @levkinlab . Thank you @AdvSciNews for the live event.

@RastegarS1 @KITKarlsruhe @Cluster3DMM2O Thank you!

Using this new method, CART (Carrier-based Actuatable and Reprogrammable Transport), it is possible to transport tiny droplets, gas bubbles, or even small solid samples on surfaces using tiny magnetic "boats". Check this out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad… @KITKarlsruhe @Cluster3DMM2O

@Cluster3DMM2O @ZEISS_Group 👏

🚀🎉 A look back at our summer 3D printing course! 🎉🚀Over two days, girls learned the basics of 3D printing, from sketching and CAD modeling to printing their own designs. Thank you to everyone who participated! 🌟 #3DPrinting #STEM #WomenInStem #3DMM2O @ZEISS_Group

@LennartHilbert Not really🤯 I guess safety is not his priority 💀

@levkinlab Did they pass Sicherheitsunterweisung?

Welcome to our new group member! Not very social but very hard working. #phdlife #WorkLifeBalance #teamwork #phdchat

Today found it in the office instead of a PhD student

My friends are organizing a very interesting Nanomedicine School in Italy. The Nanomedicine School is dedicated to Master students, PhD students, early stage researchers, and whoever is interested in an introduction to this rather new field of research. ba.ic.cnr.it/nanomedicine20…

@EvaBlascoPo @UniHeidelberg Congratulations Eva! Well deserved.

Thank you very much for this award! I am really honoured! And a huge thank you goes also to my team for the fantastic work! 👏 @UniHeidelberg

@msm_kieluni Thanks! Also thanks for pointing out that about figure 3g . I will double check this and if it is still possible will update the overview graph.

@levkinlab Congratulations to this excellent work! While you cited our work in advanced materials (ref 42) on porous pnipam hydrogels, we are just a little bit sad that we were not included in your comparison Figure 3g 😉

Enhancing the temperature responsiveness of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) by incorporating hierarchical porosity: nm-sized pores through polymerization-induced phase separation, while mm pores using 3D printing 😍. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… @Cluster3DMM2O @KITKarlsruhe