• ingestible capsule
• microbiota
• sampling surfaces

During the recent years, the scientific community has increasingly focused on the association between the gut microbiota and human healthy. But there are portions of the gastrointestinal tract, such as the small intestine, poorly investigated by the standard sampling methods. For this reason, several researchers have begun to develop minimally invasive endoscopic capsules to collect the gut microbiota. The first goal of this master thesis is to develop the reception areas to be integrated into an ingestible capsule that is designed to expose two surfaces that act mechanically to collect material from the intestinal mucus. This work aims to create surfaces covered by pillars, which have dimensions inspired by a conventional cytology brush. In conclusion four different pillars geometries, varying the pillar diameter, the distance edge-edge between them and consequently the number of pillars, were developed through the soft lithography with the objective of finding the best configuration to collect the gut microbiota. The ultimate goal of the study is to test the microbiota sampling of capsule to compare the brushing ability of pillars to that of a conventional cytology brush. Hence, the second aim of the work is the develop of a mechanical small bowel simulator, mimic the mechanical properties of the intestinal environment and the presence of bacteria in the mucus, in which to perform comparative tests.