Advances In Microfluidics Technology For Diagnostics And Detection

Microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip have, in recent years, come to the forefront in diagnostics and detection. At point-of-care, in the emergency room, and at the hospital bed or GP clinic, lab-on-a-chip offers the potential to rapidly detect time-critical and life-threatening diseases such as sepsis and bacterial meningitis. Furthermore, portable and user-friendly diagnostic platforms can enable disease diagnostics and detection in resource-poor settings where centralised laboratory facilities may not be available. At point-of-use, microfluidics and lab-on-chip can be applied in the field to rapidly identify plant pathogens, thus reducing the need for damaging broad spectrum pesticides while also reducing food losses. Microfluidics can also be applied to the continuous monitoring of water quality and can support policy-makers and protection agencies in protecting the environment. Perhaps most excitingly, microfluidics also offers the potential to enable entirely new diagnostic tests that cannot be implemented using conventional laboratory tools. Examples of microfluidics at the frontier of new medical diagnostic tests include early detection of cancers through circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and highly sensitive genetic tests using droplet-based digital PCR. This Special Issue on “Advances in Microfluidics Technology for Diagnostics and Detection” aims to gather outstanding research and to carry out comprehensive coverage of all aspects related to microfluidics in diagnostics and detection.

Microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip have, in recent years, come to the forefront in diagnostics and detection. At point-of-care, in the emergency room, and at the hospital bed or GP clinic, lab-on-a-chip offers the potential to rapidly detect time-critical and life-threatening diseases such as sepsis and bacterial meningitis. Furthermore, portable and user-friendly diagnostic platforms can enable disease diagnostics and detection in resource-poor settings where centralised laboratory facilities may not be available. At point-of-use, microfluidics and lab-on-chip can be applied in the field to rapidly identify plant pathogens, thus reducing the need for damaging broad spectrum pesticides while also reducing food losses. Microfluidics can also be applied to the continuous monitoring of water quality and can support policy-makers and protection agencies in protecting the environment. Perhaps most excitingly, microfluidics also offers the potential to enable entirely new diagnostic tests that cannot be implemented using conventional laboratory tools. Examples of microfluidics at the frontier of new medical diagnostic tests include early detection of cancers through circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and highly sensitive genetic tests using droplet-based digital PCR.This Special Issue on “Advances in Microfluidics Technology for Diagnostics and Detection” aims to gather outstanding research and to carry out comprehensive coverage of all aspects related to microfluidics in diagnostics and detection.

The field of microfluidics has in the last decade permeated many disciplines, from physics to biology and chemistry, and from bioengineering to medical research. One of the most important applications of lab-on-a-chip devices in medicine and related disciplines is disease diagnostics, which involves steps from biological sample/analyte loading to storage, detection, and analysis. The chapters collected in this book detail recent advances in these processes using microfluidic devices and systems. The reviews of portable devices for diagnostic purposes are likely to evoke interest and raise new research questions in interdisciplinary fields (e.g., efficient MEMS/microfluidic engineering driven by biological and medical applications). The variety of the selected topics (general relevance of microfluidics in medical and bioengineering research, fabrication, advances in on-chip sample detection and analysis, and specific disease models) ensures that each of them can be viewed in the larger context of microfluidic-mediated diagnostics. Contents:A Microscale Bioinspired Cochlear-like Sensor (Robert D White, Robert Littrell, and Karl Grosh)Systematic Evaluation of the Efficiencies of Proteins and Chemicals in Pharmaceutical Applications (Morgan Hamon and Jong Wook Hong)Microfluidic Glucose Sensors (Jithesh V Veetil, Sruthi Ravindranathan, Sha Jin, and Kaiming Ye)Applications of Microfabrication and Microfluidic Techniques in Mesenchymal Stem Cell Research (Abhijit Majumder, Jyotsna Dhawan, Oren Levy, and Jeffrey M Karp)Patient-Specific Modeling of Low-Density Lipoprotein Transport in Coronary Arteries (Ufuk Olgac)Point-of-Care Microdevices for Global Health Diagnostics of Infectious Diseases (Sau Yin Chin, Tassaneewan Laksanasopin, Curtis D Chin, and Samuel K Sia)Integrated Microfluidic Sample Preparation for Chip-based Molecular Diagnostics (Jane Y Zhang, Qingqing Cao, Madhumita Mahalanabis, and Catherine Klapperich)Microfluidic Devices for Cellular Proteomic Studies (Yihong Zhan and Chang Lu)Microfluidics for Neuroscience: Novel Tools and Future Implications (Vivian M Hernandez and P Hande Özdinler)Microfluidics: On-Chip Platforms as In Vitro Disease Models (Shan Gao, Erkin Şeker, and Martin L Yarmush)Application of Microfluidics in Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering (Sasha H Bakhru, Christopher Highley, and Stefan Zappe)Microfluidic “On-the-Fly” Fabrication of Microstructures for Biomedical Applications (Edward Kang, Sau Fung Wong, and Sang-Hoon Lee)Microfluidics as a Promising Tool Toward Distributed Viral Detection (Elodie Sollier and Dino Di Carlo)Electrophoresis and Dielectrophoresis for Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) Analyses (Yağmur Demircan, Gürkan Yilmaz, and Haluk Külah)Ultrasonic Embossing of Carbon Nanotubes for the Fabrication of Polymer Microfluidic Chips for DNA Sample Purification (Puttachat Khuntontong, Min Gong, and Zhiping Wang)Ferrofluidics (A Rezzan Kose and Hur Koser)Antibody-based Blood Bioparticle Capture and Separation Using Microfluidics for Global Health (ZhengYuan Luo, ShuQi Wang, Utkan Demirci, TianJian Lu, Feng Xu, and BoFeng Bai)Applications of Quantum Dots for Fluorescence Imaging in Biomedical Research (ShuQi Wang, Matin Esfahani, Dusan Sarenac, Bettina Cheung, Aishwarya Vasudevan, Fatih Inci, and Utkan Demirci) Readership: Engineers, academic researchers and instructors, and industry researchers involved in microfluidic technologies. Keywords:Point-of-Care;Rapid Detection and Monitoring;Infectious Diseases;Biomedical Engineering / Bioengineering;Stem Cells Research;Biotechnology;Tissue Engineering

This book provides a well-focused and comprehensive overview of novel technologies involved in advanced microfluidics based diagnosis via various types of prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers. This authors examine microfluidics based diagnosis in the biomedical field as an upcoming field with extensive applications. It provides a unique approach and comprehensive technology overview for diagnosis management towards early stages of various bioanalytes via cancer diagnostics diabetes, alzheimer disease, toxicity in food products, brain and retinal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and bacterial infections etc. Thus, this book would encompass a combinatorial approach of medical science, engineering and biomedical technology. The authors provide a well-focused and comprehensive overview of novel technologies involved in advanced microfluidics based diagnosis via various types of prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers. Moreover, this book contains detailed description on the diagnosis of novel techniques. This book would serve as a guide for students, scientists, researchers, and microfluidics based point of care technologies via smart diagnostics and to plan future research in this valuable field.

Micro/Nanofluidics and Lab-on-Chip Based Emerging Technologies for Biomedical and Translational Research Applications - Part B, Volume 187 represents the collation of chapters written by eminent scientists worldwide. Chapters in this new release include Design and fabrication of microfluidics devices for molecular biology applications, Micro/Nanofluidics devices for drug delivery, From organ-on-chip to body-on-chip: the next generation of microfluidics platforms for in vitro drug toxicity testing, Micro/Nanofluidics for high throughput drug screening, Design, fabrication and assembly of lab-on-a-chip and its uses, Advances in microfluidic 3D cell culture for pre-clinical drug development, Tissue and organ culture on lab-on-a chip for biomedical applications, and much more. Offers a basic understanding of the state-of-the-art design and fabrication of microfluidics/ nanofluidics and lab on chip Explains how to develop microfluidics/nanofluidic for advanced application such as healthcare, high throughout drug screening, 3D cell culture and organ-on-chip Discusses the emerging demands and research of micro/nanofluidic based devices in biomedical and translational research applications

Microfluidics have aroused a new surge of interest in recent years in environmental and energy areas, and inspired novel applications to tackle the worldwide challenges for sustainable development. This book aims to present readers with a valuable compendium of significant advances in applying the multidisciplinary microfluidic technologies to address energy and environmental problems in a plethora of areas such as environmental monitoring and detection, new nanofluid application in traditional mechanical manufacturing processes, development of novel biosensors, and thermal management. This book will provide a new perspective to the understanding of the ever-growing importance of microfluidics.

Microfluidic techniques are becoming widely incorporated into medical diagnostic systems due to the inherent advantages of miniaturization. In Microfluidic Diagnostics: Methods in Molecular Biology, researchers in the field detail methods and protocols covering subjects such as microfluidic device fabrication, on-chip sample preparation, diagnostic applications and detection methodologies. The protocols described range from cutting-edge developments to established techniques and basic demonstrations suitable for education and training; from basic fabrication methods to commercializing research. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Microfluidic Diagnostics: Methods in Molecular Biology seeks to aid scientists in the further development and commercialization of microfluidic diagnostic technologies.

The concept of a miniaturised laboratory on a disposable chip is now a reality, and in everyday use in industry, medicine and defence. New devices are launched all the time, prompting the need for a straightforward guide to the design and manufacture of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices. This book presents a modular approach to the construction and integration of LOC components in detection science. The editors have brought together some of the leading experts from academia and industry to present an accessible guide to the technology available and its potential. Several chapters are devoted to applications, presenting both the sampling regime and detection methods needed. Further chapters describe the integration of LOC devices, not only with each other but also into existing technologies. With insights into LOC applications, from biosensing to molecular and chemical analysis, and presenting scaled-down versions of existing technology alongside unique approaches that exploit the physics of the micro and nano-scale, this book will appeal to newcomers to the field and practitioners requiring a convenient reference.