The word
"microfluidic" refers to the science and technology of manipulating and controlling very small amounts of liquid fluids, usually at scales that are only visible under a microscope. It involves designing systems and devices that can handle tiny quantities of fluids for various applications in industries like biochemical analysis, medical diagnostics, and drug delivery.
Full definition
Prof. Shen and her unit say that, in the future, nanoplasmonic materials may even be integrated with emerging technologies, such as wireless systems in
microfluidic devices, allowing users to take readings remotely and thereby minimizing the risk of contamination.
Although some of my research focuses on the development of nanoelectronic devices for life science applications (as well as for telecommunications and radio astronomy), most of my research efforts are based on the use of
microfluidic chips (MFCs) with molecular biology.
Combining experiments
in microfluidic devices with numerical simulations of a cellular automaton, we have developed a framework for quantifying strain mixture versus segregation in the coverage patterns that emerge from bacterial expansion competition on 2D flat surfaces.
By expanding our previously developed «epidermal» electronics platform to include a complex network
of microfluidic channels and storage reservoirs, we now can perform biochemical analysis of this important biofluid,» he said.
For studies at the molecular level, Ismagilov will develop
microfluidic systems capable of rapidly generating, manipulating and assaying protein aggregates of various sizes, shapes and compositions.
While it took years for the original Human Genome Project to analyze a single human genome (some 3 billion DNA base pairs), modern lab equipment
with microfluidic chips can do it in hours.
His lab has pioneered the use of
microfluidics technology and high - throughput sequencing to accelerate the process of directed evolution.
The photograph shows the
developed microfluidic chip which enables us to sort cells at high speed of 16 microseconds.
«In worldwide chemotaxis competition, researchers race cell lines to the finish line: Neutrophil - like cells balance speed against accuracy to race
through microfluidic mazes.»
«Mammalian fertilization, caught on tape: Using a
new microfluidic device called the «IVF chip,» scientists obtain the first images with both high spatial and temporal resolution of the initial steps of fertilization.»
Using
microfluidic design principles, Liu's group engineered vortices in their device to increase the chance that tumor cells will collide with the surface of the flow channel.
«This means that the system will open up new options for biosensing particles
within microfluidic devices.»
And a combination of
microfluidic flow and other micro-architectural features of the devices enables the cells inside organ chips to live and thrive in three dimensions, not two.
«Body on a chip» could improve drug evaluation: Human tissue samples linked
by microfluidic channels replicate interactions of multiple organs..»
Years later she returned to her favorite toy out of necessity when, after joining a brand - new university, she lacked much - needed facilities for
making microfluidics chips.
This represents a new way to
build microfluidic devices for processing environmental or medical samples on the very small scale for testing and diagnostics, the work suggests.
According to a new study, published in Lab on a Chip, enzyme properties in various conditions can now be studied in multiple parallel reactions using
droplet microfluidic technology.
Disposable
microfluidic cartridges coencapsulate single cells and barcodes into subnanoliter droplets, where cell lysis and barcoding occur.
Attendees at the astrobiology meeting in Arizona showcased an assortment of high - tech devices for next - generation exploration, ranging
from microfluidic «life analyzers» and integrated nucleic acid extractors for studying «Martian metagenomics» to exquisitely sensitive, miniaturized organic chemistry labs for spotting tantalizing carbon compounds and minerals at microscopic scales.
There are alternatives to centrifugation such
as microfluidic technology, which has been widely studied for various applications in biological and chemical analysis, point - of - care testing and diagnostics, and clinical analysis.
The new
microfluidic approach is therefore a promising technique in tissue engineering, in which damaged tissue is repaired by using cultured cell material of the patient.
Huang teamed up with other researchers to do
microfluidics experiments, growing bacteria in tiny chambers and tracking individual cells to learn how photosynthetic bacteria grow in light and dark.
In addition, these so -
called microfluidic devices differ from other separators because they contain no moving parts, which could increase reliability.
«3D
Microfluidic Models of the Vascularized Tumor Microenvironment: Advancing Precision Medicine and Understanding Collective Migration»
To figure out how the cells stay where they're needed, the research team built a
tiny microfluidic chamber and tested the cells» ability to stay stuck with fluid flowing around them at rates mimicking the flow of blood through vessels in the body.
«These thin, flexible
microfluidic networks allow us to quantitatively track sweat loss and sweat chemistry across players in our organization,» said Lorena Martin, a medical doctor and the Mariners» director of high performance.
The findings, the result of microscopic analysis of bacteria
inside microfluidic devices, were made by MIT postdoc Roberto Rusconi, former MIT postdoc Jeffrey Guasto (now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University), and Roman Stocker, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT.
A team of scientists from the NUS Faculty of Engineering has developed a wearable liquid - based
microfluidic tactile sensor that is small, thin, highly flexible and durable.
To facilitate these approaches,
novel microfluidic platforms automating the separation of daughter cells away from their mothers will be used.
The microfabricated chip could be mass produced and integrated easily with
existing microfluidic systems.
This novel nMIS sensor could be used to
create microfluidic platforms that test for various diseases.
The new platform combines
microfluidic lab - on - a-chip technology with physiologically relevant spheroids to enable formation and long - term culture of 3D multicellular tumours / organoids for drug screening / profiling and individualized chemosensitivity testing.
«There are smaller bioparticles that contain very rich amounts of information that we don't currently have the ability to access in point - of - care [medical testing] devices
like microfluidic chips,» says Wardle, who is a co-author on the paper.
Artificial muscles are well suited to powering
microfluidic pumps, for example, on the lab - on - a-chip devices prized by medicine and industry.
The team modified a
simple microfluidic channel with an array of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes — rolled lattices of carbon atoms that resemble tiny tubes of chicken wire.
The researchers showed that they could use alginate as a template for making lab - on - a-chip devices with
complex microfluidic channels.
These results can serve as the foundation of future research on the wide range of possible applications
involving microfluidic processes such as water purification and self - powered drug delivery systems.
The Fluidigm C1 ™ Single - Cell Auto Prep system
employs microfluidic technology to isolate, process and prepare individual cells for downstream analysis.
Phrases with «microfluidic»