Microfluidics

A cell in vivo lives in a community, and understands its fate by interacting with other cells. It learns its position, characteristics and roles by cellular signals such as extracellular matrix, cytokine, hormone and other secretions. Even though cell-to-cell interaction is considered most critical in cellular events, its complexity has been the main obstacle for us to study details. In this respect, we need to simplify the study of cellular interaction by limiting the number of associating cells. Also a long-time observation is required to provide affluent information, because...

Our technology simplifies typical sample preparation and enhances detection sensitivity for blood-based lateral flow assays.

Project end date: 08/09/12

In the recent breakthrough of stem cell researches, somatic cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotent states or be converted to other cell lineages by delivery of transcription factors, RNA or small molecules. The first challenge to overcome is to deliver molecules cross cell membrane. Several delivery methods, such as viral infections, lipid-mediated transfections and electroporations, are widely applied due to their robustness and large-scale operation. However, the spatial and temporal controls are hard to achieve due to stochastic nature of bulk processes. Here we developed a...

Sample capture transport of biological fluids, like blood flow in diabetes glucose monitors, often requires microfluidic actuation. Current commercial methods used in diabetes glucose monitors usually involve porous materials or hydrogels, but these strategies are limited in fluid control. Surface wettability gradient actuation is an approach widely used in various other microfluidic or lab-on-a-chip systems. Here we design and fabricate a droplet-actuation device that relies purely on capillary pressure gradients induced by surface topologies. We discuss the theoretical capabilities...