There has been a recent trend towards the miniaturization of analytical tools, but what are the advantages of microfluidic devices and when is their use appropriate? Recent advances in the field of micro-analytical systems can be classified according to instrument performance (which refers here to the desired property of the analytical tool of interest) and two important features specifically related to miniaturisation, namely reduction of the sample volume and the time-to-result. Here we discuss the contribution of these different parameters and aim to highlight the factors of choice in the development and use of microfluidic devices dedicated to protein analysis.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2004.01.001 | DOI Listing |
Sci Rep
January 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
The aberrant vascular response associated with tendon injury results in circulating immune cell infiltration and a chronic inflammatory feedback loop leading to poor healing outcomes. Studying this dysregulated tendon repair response in human pathophysiology has been historically challenging due to the reliance on animal models. To address this, our group developed the human tendon-on-a-chip (hToC) to model cellular interactions in the injured tendon microenvironment; however, this model lacked the key element of physiological flow in the vascular compartment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSensors (Basel)
January 2025
Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores-Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC-MN), Rua Alves Redol, 1000-029 Lisbon, Portugal.
Point-of-care (PoC) devices offer a promising solution for fast, portable, and easy-to-use diagnostics. These characteristics are particularly relevant in agrifood fields like viticulture where the early detection of plant stresses is crucial to crop yield. Microfluidics, with its low reagent volume requirements, is well-suited for such applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicromachines (Basel)
January 2025
Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Japan Women's University, 2-8-1 Mejirodai, Bunkyo, Tokyo 112-8681, Japan.
Microfluidic-based cell-stretching devices are vital for studying the molecular pathways involved in cellular responses to mechanobiological processes. Accurate evaluation of these responses requires detailed observation of cells cultured in this cell-stretching device. This study aimed to develop a method for preparing microscope slides to enable high-magnification imaging of cells in these devices.
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January 2025
School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
This study evaluates the performance of continuous flow and drop-based microfluidic devices for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) under identical hydrodynamic and chemical conditions. Flows at low values of Dean number (De < 1) were investigated, where the contribution of the vortices forming inside the drop to the additional mixing inside the reactor should be most noticeable. In the drop-based microfluidic device, discrete aqueous drops serving as reactors were generated by flow focusing using silicone oil as the continuous phase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicromachines (Basel)
December 2024
Zepto Life Technology Inc., 1000 Westgate Drive, St. Paul, MN 55114, USA.
Accurate fluid management in microfluidic-based point-of-care testing (POCT) devices is critical. Fluids must be gated and directed in precise sequences to facilitate desired biochemical reactions and signal detection. Pneumatic valves are widely utilized for fluid gating due to their flexibility and simplicity.
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