Dr. Khine will be honored at Technology Review's EmTech09 Conference at MIT in September.

The initial iterations of Dr. Khine's innovations relied on Shrinky Dink material, sheets of thin plastic that can be colored with paint or ink and then shrunk in a hot oven. Essentially, she created a channel design for her initial devices in AutoCAD, printed it on the Shrinky Dink material, and then placed it inside a toaster oven. The heat caused the plastic to shrink and the ink particles on its surface to cluster together and form ridges.

A flexible polymer - PDMS - was poured onto the surface of the cooled Shrinky Dink and the ink ridges created tiny channels in the surface of the polymer as it hardened. The PDMS was peeled back from the Shrinky Dink mold, unveiling a fully customized and functional microfluidic device that was made without the need for a clean room and millions of dollars in sensitive and expensive equipment.

The innovations recognized by the TR35 Award have ultimately become the core of what is now Shrink Nanotechnologies, the exclusive licensee of the patent-pending advances made by Dr. Khine.

Shrink, with the assistance of its growing expert network of over 20 leading research scientists, has made significant improvements on its technologies and is focused on developing ultra-functional suites of products for the solar, biotech research and development, and diagnostics and sensor industries, among others.

"Discovering the amazing young men and women who make up the TR35 is one of the highlights of the year for us," said Jason Pontin, editor in chief and publisher of Technology Review. "We honor them for their achievements and look forward to their future accomplishments."

"Dr. Michelle Khine's research has contributed to the advancement of the emerging nanotechnology industry," said Mark L. Baum, CEO of Shrink Nanotechnologies.

"Shrink is utilizing Dr. Khine's technology to commercialize a broad range of applications and products such as disruptive nano-crystal solar concentrator technology. Her discoveries are the foundation of all of our product designs and will serve as the basis of a new model in the rapid design and low-cost fabrication of diagnostic chips and other nano-size devices across diverse industries, including solar energy, life sciences, and drug and chemical analysis. We congratulate Michelle on receiving this prestigious award."

Dr. Khine, a veteran entrepreneur whose first business developed into a successful VC-backed company, is a widely published researcher, with multiple patents grants and honors. She serves on several review committees, most notably the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institute of Health. She is Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and holds PhD, M.S. and B.S. degrees from the University of California Berkeley.

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