Introduction to Microfluidics

Tian, Wei-Chang; Finehout, Erin

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-09480-9_1

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…For instance, Woolley et al 1 developed a microfluidic capillary gel electrophoresis system for DNA analysis with a considerable decrease in separation time. Since then, microfluidic techniques and devices are now used in a variety of biological applications covered in detailed reviews [2][3][4][5] .…”

Section: Origins Of Microfluidicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, glass soon became the new standard as it presented several advantages over silicon. Glass is relatively cheap, resistant, and transparent with good optical properties, making it a suitable material for biological applications involving microscopy 3 . However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, another material quickly prevailed over glass and silicon 6 , namely silicone.…”

Section: Materials Used In Microfluidicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How single-cell immunology is benefiting from microfluidic technologies

Jammes

Maerkl

2020

Microsyst Nanoeng

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The immune system is a complex network of specialized cells that work in concert to protect against invading pathogens and tissue damage. Imbalances in this network often result in excessive or absent immune responses leading to allergies, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. Many of the mechanisms and their regulation remain poorly understood. Immune cells are highly diverse, and an immune response is the result of a large number of molecular and cellular interactions both in time and space. Conventional bulk methods are often prone to miss important details by returning population-averaged results. There is a need in immunology to measure single cells and to study the dynamic interplay of immune cells with their environment. Advances in the fields of microsystems and microengineering gave rise to the field of microfluidics and its application to biology. Microfluidic systems enable the precise control of small volumes in the femto-to nanoliter range. By controlling device geometries, surface chemistry, and flow behavior, microfluidics can create a precisely defined microenvironment for single-cell studies with spatiotemporal control. These features are highly desirable for single-cell analysis and have made microfluidic devices useful tools for studying complex immune systems. In addition, microfluidic devices can achieve high-throughput measurements, enabling in-depth studies of complex systems. Microfluidics has been used in a large panel of biological applications, ranging from single-cell genomics, cell signaling and dynamics to cell-cell interaction and cell migration studies. In this review, we give an overview of state-of-the-art microfluidic techniques, their application to single-cell immunology, their advantages and drawbacks, and provide an outlook for the future of single-cell technologies in research and medicine.

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Section: Origins Of Microfluidicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials Used In Microfluidicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How single-cell immunology is benefiting from microfluidic technologies

Jammes

Maerkl

2020

Microsyst Nanoeng

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“…Assuming that a microscale membrane MFC differs from a macroscale one only by the length of its electrode, miniaturizing the system would forcibly improve the surface maximum flux. Finally, miniaturizing MFC to microscale also leads to a reduction in the internal resistances, by shortening the inter-electrode distance [ 9 , 65 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 72 , 73 , 95 , 96 , 97 ] or increasing the IEM surface area relative to the smaller size of the electrodes [ 98 ]. Microfluidic membrane MFCs are, however, actually considered as low energy output systems, classified among the low power density production systems, because of the presence of the membrane inside the MFC set-up [ 64 ].…”

Section: Microfluidic Microbial Besmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfluidic Microbial Bioelectrochemical Systems: An Integrated Investigation Platform for a More Fundamental Understanding of Electroactive Bacterial Biofilms

et al. 2020

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It is the ambition of many researchers to finally be able to close in on the fundamental, coupled phenomena that occur during the formation and expression of electrocatalytic activity in electroactive biofilms. It is because of this desire to understand that bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) have been miniaturized into microBES by taking advantage of the worldwide development of microfluidics. Microfluidics tools applied to bioelectrochemistry permit even more fundamental studies of interactions and coupled phenomena occurring at the microscale, thanks, in particular, to the concomitant combination of electroanalysis, spectroscopic analytical techniques and real-time microscopy that is now possible. The analytical microsystem is therefore much better suited to the monitoring, not only of electroactive biofilm formation but also of the expression and disentangling of extracellular electron transfer (EET) catalytic mechanisms. This article reviews the details of the configurations of microfluidic BESs designed for selected objectives and their microfabrication techniques. Because the aim is to manipulate microvolumes and due to the high modularity of the experimental systems, the interfacial conditions between electrodes and electrolytes are perfectly controlled in terms of physicochemistry (pH, nutrients, chemical effectors, etc.) and hydrodynamics (shear, material transport, etc.). Most of the theoretical advances have been obtained thanks to work carried out using models of electroactive bacteria monocultures, mainly to simplify biological investigation systems. However, a huge virgin field of investigation still remains to be explored by taking advantage of the capacities of microfluidic BESs regarding the complexity and interactions of mixed electroactive biofilms.

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“…As a pressure-driven fluid, the flow rate has a parabolic profile within the microfluidic channel, where the fluid that is closer to the microfluidic channel wall has a lower flow rate. The nonuniform flow-rate distribution is due to the viscous force between the fluid and the microfluidic channel [25]. In this paper, the theoretical model is set up for validating the proposed theory, that is, the particle displacement could be increased by reducing the light-beam-waist radius.…”

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%