Themed collection Lab on a Chip Recent Review Articles

A step-by-step guide for droplet-based single cell RNAseq experiments, practical considerations and technical notes.

The full impact of MPS technologies will be realized only when robust approaches for in vitro–in vivo (MPS-to-human) translation are developed and utilized.

This review examines scientific advancements of microfluidic technology for engineering exosomes and assesses future applications and perspectives in developing precision therapeutics, which can serve the community by identifying potential new research areas or technologies that are urgently needed in precision therapeutics.

We reviewed the foundational technologies underlying the commercialization efforts of the current prominent organ-on-a-chip start-ups.

A guide on the underlying physics, prevention and removal strategies of undesirable bubbles in microfluidics.

A historical and comprehensive review of microfluidic radiobioassays from their onset, including basics, techniques, applications, and prospects.

Substantial research has been devoted to elucidate the roles that extracellular vesicles (EVs) play in the regulation of both normal and pathological processes, and multiple studies have demonstrated their potential as a source of cancer biomarkers.

Research on circulating biomarkers have enabled the development of new diagnostic tools that complement conventional biopsies through less invasive sampling of the tumor cells, also known as liquid biopsy.

This tutorial review explores the use of droplet microfluidics to generate compartmentalised model membrane constructs that have potential applications as microreactors, as artificial cells in synthetic biology, as simplified cell models and as drug delivery vehicles.

A tutorial review of different porous membranes utilized in tissue barrier and co-culture models with a focus on experimental design and control.

Fluorescence labelling, sensing and detection device for multiple single-cell components analysis on microfluidic chip.

New technologies that measure sparse molecular biomarkers from easily accessible bodily fluids (e.g. blood, urine, and saliva) are revolutionizing disease diagnostics and precision medicine.

Recent advances in microengineered cell migration platforms are discussed critically with focus on how cell migration is influenced by engineered tumor microenvironments, the medical relevance being to understand how tumor microenvironments may promote or suppress the progression of cancer.

Nanofluidic crystals bridge nanofluidic concepts with real-world applications in various fields.

This tutorial review explains the integration of optical chemical sensor formats for the purpose of monitoring oxygen, pH, carbon dioxide, glucose and temperature in microbioreactors.

On-field infectious disease diagnostics can be performed with paper microfluidics through sample preparation and nucleic acid amplification.

We reviewed different fluidic principles to produce drug delivery systems, especially the factors affecting drug release.

This tutorial provides an introduction to the Belousov–Zhabotinsky oscillatory reaction and reviews the role of microfluidics in engineering compartmentalized and dynamical BZ systems.

This review discusses the opportunities provided by gallium liquid metal alloys for making various microfluidic components.

This review describes the principles of optical DNA mapping in nanofluidic channels and highlights recent examples of exciting novel applications.

A review of microfluidic technologies for epigenetic and epigenomic analyses.

This critical review organizes and evaluates state-of-the-art approaches to LFA sensitivity enhancement from a system-level perspective.

Magnetic particles are widely used in lab-on-chip and biosensing applications, because they have a high surface-to-volume ratio, they can be actuated with magnetic fields and many biofunctionalization options are available. This review focuses on the use of rotating magnetic particles for lab-on-chip applications.

Development of new point of care tools for sepsis has the potential to improve diagnostic speed and accuracy, leading to prompt administration of appropriate therapeutics, thereby reducing healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes.

Microfluidic tumor model has the unique advantage of recapitulating tumor microenvironment in a comparatively easier and representative fashion. In this review, we aim to focus more on the possibility of generating clinically actionable information from these microfluidic systems, not just scientific insight.

This review is geared towards device engineers, designers, and users who wish to establish “cell-friendly” technologies with utility to a broader scientific community.

Human microphysiological systems were developed to model skeletal muscle and nerve-skeletal muscle interactions. These systems can be applied to a number of major disease states involve skeletal muscle, including type 2 diabetes, muscular dystrophy, sarcopenia and cachexia arising from cancer or heart disease.

By surpassing the predictive accuracy of conventional 2D cell culture models, tumor chips can reduce reliance on animal models in line with the 3Rs initiative and eliminate false positive selection of ineffective or toxic drugs earlier in the drug development pipeline, saving time and resources. Most importantly, better predictability of human drug response will reduce human risk and improve patient outcomes.

Microphysiological systems have emerged in the last decade to provide an alternative to in vivo models in basic science and pharmaceutical research.

This review critically analyzes the history, fundamental operating principles, limitations, applications, and emerging ideas related to microchannel-based capillary microfluidics.

Oral administration of drugs is most convenient for patients and therefore the ultimate goal when developing new medication.

Acoustic actuation of fluids at small scales may finally enable a comprehensive lab-on-a-chip revolution in microfluidics, overcoming long-standing difficulties in fluid and particle manipulation on-chip.

Flexible biosensors represent an increasingly important and rapidly developing field of research.

This Frontiers review analyzes the rapidly growing microfluidic strategies that have been employed in attempts to create physiologically relevant ‘organ-on-chip’ models using primary tissue removed from a body (human or animal).

We discuss microsensors for cell culture monitoring from 2D culture to organ-on-chip systems, including sensor principles, fabrication and culture formats.

Opportunities and challenges in translational application of ctDNA along with recent developments in chip-based ctDNA detection technologies have been reviewed.

Microfluidic approaches can be used to study aspects of amyloid structures assembly and behaviour that are challenging to probe under bulk solution conditions. Developments in chip-based technology now allow researchers to explore the physicochemical parameters at the heart of the amyloid phenomenon.

Light responsive polymers will drive revolutionary changes in microfluidics by reducing costs, platform dimensions and complexity.

In this review, we discuss the up-to-date progress of particle migration in viscoelastic fluids mainly from the aspect of applications, laying out a comprehensive perspective on their potential in future lab-on-a-chip platforms.

Non-invasive wearable sensing technology extracts mechanical, electrical, optical, and chemical information from the human body.

Microfluidic cell cultures are ideally positioned to become the next generation of in vitro diagnostic tools for biomedical research, where key biological processes such as cell signalling and dynamic cell-to-cell interactions can be reliably analysed under reproducible physiological cell culture conditions.

Lab on a chip technologies have the potential to improve diagnosis for malaria elimination programs.

Different synthetic strategies derived from droplet reactors with integrated functional regions for NC synthesis.

Photonic crystal (PC) cavities, which possess the advantages of compactness, flexible design, and suitability for integration in a lab-on-a-chip system, are able to distinguish slight variations in refractive index with only a small amount of analyte.

This review focuses on the fabrication methods, theory, and applications of micro free flow electrophoresis (μFFE), a continuous separation technique particularly well suited for microscale purifications and online monitoring applications.

This review discusses research developments and applications of isotachophoresis (ITP) to the initiation, control, and acceleration of chemical reactions, emphasizing reactions involving biomolecular reactants such as nucleic acids, proteins, and live cells.

Application of micro- and nano-technology in pathological angiogenesis and revascularization strategies towards better clinical outcomes.

Microfluidic platforms provide endless possibilities for synthetic chemistry.

This review focuses on devices developed for the manipulation of functionalized particles as solid-support in multiphase and droplet microfluidic systems, and on their clinical applications.

Review of recent advances in fabrication of geometrically complex channels and actuators in PDMS, with a focus on 3D printing.

In this review, we present the use of tumour-vessels-on-a-chip to investigate and screen nanoparticles for cancer targeted drug delivery.

A review of the latest research on microfluidic devices for C. elegans analysis reveals a clear potential for their fruitful application in high-throughput and high-content screening contexts.

Semiconductor gas sensors using metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, graphene-based materials, and metal chalcogenides have been reviewed from the viewpoint of the sensitive, selective, and reliable detection of exhaled biomarker gases, and perspectives/strategies to realize breath analysis on a chip for disease diagnosis are discussed and suggested.

Breakthroughs in adapting microfluidic systems for exosome isolation, detection, and analysis are providing new tools to revolutionize personalized medicine.

We present diagnostic technologies available to detect the leading causes of maternal and neonatal mortality, highlighting key gaps in development.

Review of current droplet microfluidics systems as they apply to the field of synthetic biology and genetic engineering.

The high rate of failure during drug development is well-known, however recent advances in tissue engineering and microfabrication have contributed to the development of microphysiological systems (MPS), or ‘organs-on-chips’ that recapitulate the function of human organs.

This article reviews recent advances of new assay platforms that are developed to facilitate molecular analyses of exosomes.

We critically review both microfluidic and emerging nanofluidic phase behaviour characterization methods for industrial CO₂, oil and gas applications.

We review recent advancements adopting 3D printing in the POCT device development pipeline, highlighting its utility in all analytical stages.

This review analyses state-of-the-art droplet control technologies that exhibit potential to be used in the new generation of screening devices.

An overview of the materials and structures, applications and modern analytical technology for microfluidic crystallization is presented.

We review the advantages of sessile-droplet-based assay platforms and highlight their applications in analyte enrichment, cell/particle separation, and DNA analysis.

Nucleic acid cytometry using droplet microfluidics identifies and sorts single cells, virus, or free molecules based on specific “keyword” sequences.

A review highlighting the historical basis, routes and roadmap of the development of magnetic biosensing platform technologies.

This critical review discusses microfluidic generation and manipulation of cell-laden hydrogel microcapsules, and their applications for in vitro cell culture.

Untethered micron-scale mobile robots can navigate and non-invasively perform specific tasks inside unprecedented and hard-to-reach inner human body sites and inside enclosed organ-on-a-chip microfluidic devices with live cells.

This review highlights five representative material/structure strategies to achieve ‘J-shaped’ stress–strain responses and introduces their applications in stretchable electronics.

Recent developments in the eye-on-a-chip platforms for ocular drug testing and possible prospective directions highlight the potential integrations.

Polymeric microneedles have attracted extensive attentions due to their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and nontoxicity compared to solid microneedles made of silicon, metals and ceramics.