A simple flash and freeze system for cryogenic time-resolved electron microscopy.

As the resolution revolution in CryoEM expands to encompass all manner of macromolecular complexes, an important new frontier is the implementation of cryogenic time resolved EM (cryoTREM). Biological macromolecular complexes are dynamic systems that undergo conformational changes on timescales from microseconds to minutes. Understanding the dynamic nature of biological changes is critical to understanding function.

Flattening of Diluted Species Profile via Passive Geometry in a Microfluidic Device.

In recent years, microfluidic devices have become an important tool for use in lab-on-a-chip processes, including drug screening and delivery, bio-chemical reactions, sample preparation and analysis, chemotaxis, and separations. In many such processes, a flat cross-sectional concentration profile with uniform flow velocity across the channel is desired to achieve controlled and precise solute transport. This is often accommodated by the use of electroosmotic flow, however, it is not an ideal for many applications, particularly biomicrofluidics.

Electrocoalescence based serial dilution of microfluidic droplets.

Dilution of microfluidic droplets where the concentration of a reagent is incrementally varied is a key operation in drop-based biological analysis. Here, we present an electrocoalescence based dilution scheme for droplets based on merging between moving and parked drops. We study the effects of fluidic and electrical parameters on the dilution process.

Droplet sensing by measuring the capacitance between coplanar electrodes in a digital microfluidic system.

In this paper, we report a novel method of droplet sensing in a two-plate digital microfluidic system (DMS) based on coplanar capacitance measurement. The total capacitance between the two adjacent electrodes on the lower plate depends on the position of the droplet. Both numerical and experimental results show that the capacitance is maximal at the midpoint between two electrodes.

Droplet position control in digital microfluidic systems.

Research on so called digital microfluidic systems (DMS) capable of manipulating individual microdroplets on a cell-based structure has enormously increased in the past few years, mainly due to the demand of the technology-dependent biomedical applications. Significant research in this area has been related to the simulation and modeling of droplet motion, demonstration of different drop actuation techniques on laboratory-scale prototypes, and droplet routing and scheduling for more efficient assay procedures. This paper introduces the basics of the control analysis and design of a DMS, which is a relatively unexplored area in digital microfluidics.