Coaxial flow focusing in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic devices.

We have developed a coaxial flow focusing geometry that can be fabricated using soft lithography in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). Like coaxial flow focusing in glass capillary microfluidics, our geometry can form double emulsions in channels with uniform wettability and of a size much smaller than the channel dimensions. However, In contrast to glass capillary coaxial flow focusing, our geometry can be fabricated using lithographic techniques, allowing it to be integrated as the drop making unit in parallel drop maker arrays.

Kinetic optimization of a protein-responsive aptamer beacon.

Aptamers have been utilized as biosensors because they can be readily adapted to sensor platforms and signal transduction schemes through both rational design and selection. One highly generalizable scheme for the generation of the so-called aptamer beacons involves denaturing the aptamer with antisense oligonucleotides. For example, rational design methods have been utilized to adapt anti-thrombin aptamers to function as biosensors by hybridizing an antisense oligonucleotide containing a quencher to the aptamer containing a fluorescent label.