Microfluidic systems have significant implications for the fields of cell biology and cell-based assay as they enable conventional assays to be conducted using an automated and high-throughput approach. Unlike conventional in vitro cell culture methods, microfluidics can provide small and complex structures mimicking the in vivo environment of cells. Recent research has shown that microfluidic ...

Low-cost assays have broad applications ranging from human health diagnostics and food safety inspection to environmental analysis. Hence, low-cost assays are especially attractive for rural areas and developing countries, where financial resources are limited. Recently, paper-based microfluidic devices have emerged as a low-cost platform which greatly accelerates the point of care (POC) analys...

We review microfluidic platforms that enable the miniaturization, integration and automation of biochemical assays. Nowadays nearly an unmanageable variety of alternative approaches exists that can do this in principle. Here we focus on those kinds of platforms only that allow performance of a set of microfluidic functions--defined as microfluidic unit operations-which can be easily combined wi...

In this paper a method is presented for creating ‘interconnection blocks’ that are re-usable and provide multiple, aligned and planar microfluidic interconnections. Interconnection blocks made from polydimethylsiloxane allow rapid testing of microfluidic chips and unobstructed microfluidic observation. The interconnection block method is scalable, flexible and supports high interconnection dens...

This article contains schemes, original experimental data and figures for an integrated modularized microfluidic system described in "An integrated microfluidic system for bovine DNA purification and digital PCR detection [1]". In this data article, we described the structure and fabrication of the integrated modularized microfluidic system. This microfluidic system was applied to isolate DNA f...

Immunoassays have greatly benefited from miniaturization in microfluidic systems. This review, which summarizes developments in microfluidics-based immunoassays since 2000, includes four sections, focusing on the configurations of immunoassays that have been implemented in microfluidics, the main fluid handling modalities that have been used for microfluidic immunoassays, multiplexed immunoassa...

Combining photolithography and hot embossing offers the capability of cost-efficient and high-fidelity fabrication of polymer microfluidic devices, however, poor chemical resistance in nonpolar organic solvents and high gas permeability of the currently used polymers narrow the range of applications of the microfluidic devices. With the aim of specific chemical or biological applications, we re...

Microfluidic devices provide low sample consumption, high throughput, high integration, and good environment controllability advantages. An alternative to conventional bioreactors, microfluidic devices are a simple and effective platform for stem cell investigations. In this study, we describe the design of a microfluidic device as a chemical and mechanical shear stress bioreactor to stimulate ...

Microfluidic technology has provided innovative solutions to numerous problems, but the cost of designing and fabricating microfluidic channels is impeding its expansion. In this work, Shrinky-Dink thermoplastic sheets are used to create multilayered complex templates for microfluidic channels. We used inkjet and laserjet printers to raise a predetermined microchannel geometry by depositing sev...

In this work, we demonstrate an on-chip microfluidic flow cytometry system based on a three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic focusing technique, microfluidic drifting. By inducing Dean flow in a curved microfluidic channel, microfluidic drifting can be used to hydrodynamically focus cells or particles in the vertical direction and enables the 3D hydrodynamic focusing in a single-layer planar micro...