Microfluidics

Fully integrated lab-on-a-chip systems for applications such as DNA sequencing and pathogen detection will incorporate significant microfluidic components. These systems will necessarily require the flow of large molecules such as DNA, which give the bulk fluid viscoelastic behavior. Additionally, the characteristic lengths of these molecules will approach those of the fluid channel, presenting a unique flow situation that is not well understood. The effects of microscale flow in canonical microfluidic structures on the conformation of DNA, and the reciprocal effects of DNA...

Signal amplifications of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) by microfluidic compact disk (CD)-based preconcentration method is accomplished for effective label-free bioassays and chemical detections. This is the first demonstration of the SERS-CD platform having capabilities of high-throughput microfluidic multifunctional on-chip biomedical devices. In order to achieve the preconcentration through the accumulation of biomolecules adsorbed on the SERS active site, we inject and dry biomolecular sample solution in the microfluidic channel prior to SERS detection and then repeat...

Understanding cellular dynamics of xenobiotic and ion transport are important for in-vitro drug assay since it is a critical step to estimate the performance, toxin and side effect of new drug candidates. Most current drug assays are based on the average cellular response of large cell populations. In conventional cell culture platforms the mass transport of cell cluster is affected by transport at neighboring cells. In order to study systematically xenobiotic and ion transport, isolated single cells on optofluidic multisensing platform are required. To observe cancer cells under...

Soft Lithography has been pioneered in the past decade as a tool to manipulate cells under well controlled physical and chemical conditions. Despite the vast number of studies applied in various lines of cells, there have been few focusing on the membrane properties of erythrocytes. Here we present a novel and convenient alternative to traditional methods used to obtain physical properties of erythrocytes, and our objective is to establish a standard model for healthy red blood cells and derive clear model for quantification of severity in erythrocyte membrane disorders, with...