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HIGH STRENGTH STRUCTURAL SILICON MICRONEEDLES

• Miniature - Roughly the cross-section of a human hair.
• Capillary Flow - The microneedle draws blood (or other liquid) flow by capillary force into the disposable microchip.
• No Pain..BIG Gain - The miniature microneedle has been proven in clinical trials to be pain free.
• Strong - Kumetrix single crystal silicon needles are stronger than steel, and will not break during skin penetration.

• Finite element analysis is used to design the silicon microneedle.

REVERSE ENGINEERED FROM NATURE

The silicon microneedle was engineered to mimic the painless bite of the mosquito. In the majority of mosquito bites, the target is unaware of being bitten. The bite itself typically causes no pain – irritation, redness, and swelling are caused by enzymes injected by the mosquito to thin the blood. Kumetrix worked with a leading entomologist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to design the product.

The process to make a silicon microneedle is identical to the manufacturing of computer chips, except that the resultant silicon micro-device performs a mechanical function, rather than an electrical one. Chips that do mechanical work are called micro-electro-mechanical systems or MEMS.

Unlike conventional finger lancets or heelsticks, Kumetrix has integrated on-chip internal microfluidics and assay capability with the microneedle into a single device. This allows for a one-step assay to be performed by the user, without the need for blood transfer. The microneedle chip takes a much smaller blood sample, allowing testing to be done on the arm or other less painful sites and conserving a neonate's limited blood supply.