Blog Categories: Articles

  • Hydrophilicity of COC Microfluidic Devices

    Hydrophilicity of COC Microfluidic Devices

    Potomac can fabricate fully functional microfluidic devices in many materials such as Cyclo-Olefin Copolymer (COC). Often our customers ask us to treat the material to make if more hydrophilic.  COC is a relatively hydrophobic material that can be difficult to wet with water or aqueous solutions. However, there are several methods that can be used…

  • Potomac Accelerates Shadow Mask 
    Manufacturing Speeds

    Potomac Accelerates Shadow Mask Manufacturing Speeds

    Every day, disruptive technologies allow humans to enter a new world that brings innovations to life. Whether battling climate change by reducing the amount of fossil fuel burning, helping autonomous vehicles navigate roads, guiding man to Mars, or cleaning up toxic waste, technology innovations are the key to solving our world’s problem’s – today and…

  • Potomac Gives Thanks for the Opportunity to Help Healthcare Outcomes Via Microfluidic Device Advances

    Potomac Gives Thanks for the Opportunity to Help Healthcare Outcomes Via Microfluidic Device Advances

    Living in a time when there is so much chaos, division, and animosity, it is sometimes hard to remember how much we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.  Today, new technologies are disrupting healthcare, space exploration, and climate change at an exponential pace, bringing with them a brighter future for our people and…

  • Potomac Photonics Designs and Fabricates Innovative Dental Tool to Comply with COVID Protocols.

    Potomac Photonics Designs and Fabricates Innovative Dental Tool to Comply with COVID Protocols.

    Potomac scientists and engineers innately see a problem and, especially in this time of Covid, can’t help but jump in to innovate a solution.  Just that happened when Potomac senior research scientist, Natalia Christensen, visited her dentist for an annual check-up.  Explains Jessica Salmon, a 12-year dental hygienist veteran at Gentle Family Dentistry in Dunkirk,…

  • Potomac Celebrates MfgDay By Exploring Advanced Manufacturing Career Options

    Potomac Celebrates MfgDay  By Exploring Advanced Manufacturing Career Options

    Each October manufacturers, led by the National Association of Manufacturers, focus on the career opportunities that manufacturing brings to a wide range of industries.  This year Manufacturing Day is October 2 and while plant tours and other in-person activities are not feasible, we can learn more about jobs at companies like Potomac Photonics. This Isn’t…

  • Microfluidic Device to counter the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) crisis in healthcare.

    Microfluidic Device to counter the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) crisis in healthcare.

    March 2020, Astek Diagnostics LLC, won the Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) Award to develop a microfluidic device to detect bacterial infections in blood and evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility. Astek, in partnership with Potomac Photonics Inc., will be designing a state-of-the art microfluidic lab-on-chip sensor for rapid detection of microorganisms in bodily fluids (like, blood, urine,…

  • Black Lives Matter: From Rhetoric to Action for US Companies

    Black Lives Matter: From Rhetoric to Action for US Companies

    We are seeing so many emails and blog posts from companies that say: “We Stand With Black Lives Matter Protesters”.  But when all is said and done, how does a company move beyond rhetoric to action? Saying you support the Black Lives Matter movement is a far cry from hiring and training black people locally…

  • Potomac adds Precision microfluidic control capabilities with state-of-the-art Flow EZ pumps.

    Potomac adds Precision microfluidic control capabilities with state-of-the-art Flow EZ pumps.

    Quality assurance is at the heart of everything we manufacture at Potomac.  It is our attention to product and process control that ensures every microfluidic device, consumer product, medical device and electronic component meets our customers’ rigid standards. Manufacturing Microfluidic technology in particular requires strong quality processes.  In order to fabricate high performing microfluidic devices…

  • Protecting People in a Time of Coronavirus at the Speed of Light

    Protecting People in a Time of  Coronavirus at the Speed of Light

    The modern world is an interconnected ecosystem and this heartwarming story that started with a cat named Ace shows how fast responses changes lives for our customers. Ace  Heidi Leonard is a research chemist at NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Gaithersburg, MD.  She lives in Baltimore with her one and half…

  • Potomac Photonics on the Front Lines of Coronavirus Personal Protective Equipment Manufacturing

    Potomac Photonics on the Front Lines of Coronavirus  Personal Protective Equipment Manufacturing

    Necessity is truly the mother of invention and the war against the coronavirus has created a worldwide wave of innovation to fight the pandemic.  No need is greater than the protection of healthcare workers, front line support, emergency teams, firefighters, police, and caregivers. With Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] in short supply, Potomac jumped into the front…

  • Droplet Microfluidics – Making an Impact

    Droplet Microfluidics – Making an Impact

    With the need to rapidly develop and commercialize new products including biopharmaceuticals, medical diagnostic kits and recombinant proteins and organisms, companies need the ability to rapidly perform chemical and biochemical experiments. In particular, the ability to scale up to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of experiments is a requirement in todays…

  • Potomac Photonics Process Notebook: Micro Pillars

    Potomac Photonics Process Notebook: Micro Pillars

    When it comes to microfluidics, packing purpose into every micron is a true design challenge. The design of individual features starts with defining their purpose in the overall function of the device. Today we are spotlighting one of these common features: micro pillars. Micropillar arrays serve a multitude of purpose in the function of microfluidics.…