Acoustic mixing in a dome-shaped chamber-based SAW (DC-SAW) device.

The use of an open droplet system for surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based applications has been limited by droplet instability at high input power. This study introduces a dome-shaped chamber-based SAW (DC-SAW) device for the first time, which can be fabricated simply using a single adhesive tape and a drop of ultraviolet-curable material without soft lithography processes. The dome-shaped chamber device with a contact angle of 68° enables the maximizing of the effect of SAW transmitted at a refraction angle of roughly 22°, negating the droplet instability.

Sheathless High-Throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Separation Using Viscoelastic non-Newtonian Fluid.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have attracted increasing attention as important biomarkers for clinical and biological applications. Several microfluidic approaches have been demonstrated to separate CTCs using immunoaffinity or size difference from other blood cells. This study demonstrates a sheathless, high-throughput separation of CTCs from white blood cells (WBCs) using a viscoelastic fluid.

Electrical impulse effects on degenerative human annulus fibrosus model to reduce disc pain using micro-electrical impulse-on-a-chip.

Electrical stimulation of cells and tissues for therapeutic benefit is a well-established method. Although animal studies can emulate the complexity of an organism's physiology, lab-on-a-chip platforms provide a suitable primary model for follow-up animal studies. Thus, inexpensive and easy-to-use platforms for in vitro human cell studies are required.

Determination of red blood cell deformability using centrifugal force in a three-dimensional-printed mini-disk (3D-PMD).

Measuring red blood cell (RBC) deformability has become important for clinical disease diagnostics. Various methods for measuring RBC deformability have been developed; however, they require costly and large instruments, long measuring time, and skilled personnel. In this study, we present a three-dimensional-printed mini-disk (3D-PMD) for measuring RBC deformability to overcome the previous limitations.

Miniaturized thermocycler based on thermoelectric heating for diagnosis of sexually transmitted disease by DNA amplification.

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) is among the most common infectious diseases; therefore, it is necessary to develop sensitive early diagnostic techniques. As the gold standard, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been most widely employed for STD diagnosis; however, PCR requires large and expensive instruments. In this study, miniaturized thermal cycler using Peltier modules was developed for the PCR analysis.