Themed collection Lab on a Chip 2016 Most Downloaded Articles

This review weights the advantages and limits of miniaturised blood plasma separation and highlights interesting advances in direct biomarker capture.

We provide a selected overview of three types of flexible sensors that have been recently applied to biomedical and healthcare purposes through direct application on the human skin.

This review evaluates the possibility of developing portable digital microfluidic platforms for lab-on-a-chip applications.

Droplet microfluidics has rapidly emerged as one of the key technologies opening up new experimental possibilities in microbiology.

Fabrication of vascular networks within engineered tissue remains one of the greatest challenges facing the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering.

3D printing has the potential to significantly change the field of microfluidics.

A comprehensive exploration of the state-of-the-art and a critical outlook on the advantages, barriers and potential of 3D-printing in microfluidics.

This review focuses on developments in the field of droplet microfluidics in the context of drug discovery, genomics and transcriptomics.

Equipment-free devices with quantitative readout are of great significance to point-of-care testing (POCT), which provides real-time readout to users and is especially important in low-resource settings.

We review novel mobile sensing applications based on the integration of microfluidic devices and smartphones (MS²).

This review highlights the recent development and future opportunities in the interdisciplinary field, integrating microfluidic technology and microbial engineering.

Microfluidic devices capable of manipulating and guiding small fluid volumes open new methodical approaches in the fields of biology, pharmacy, and medicine.

A review of the most recent developments in so-called “Soil-on-a-Chip” microfluidic technology for environmental organismal studies, including bacteria, nematodes, fungi and plants, as well as inter-organismal interactions.

We provide a comprehensive review describing the fundamental mechanisms of inertial microfluidics, structure design and applications in biology, medicine and industry.

This review presents the state of the art of active microfluidic droplet generation concepts.

A 3D printed chip for the production of neuron-containing alginate capsules.

We present a low-cost, disposable, and fully-integrated paperfluidic molecular diagnostic chip for sample-to-result functionality at the point-of-care.

We present a fundamental class of 3D printed microfluidic circuit components and integrated systems constructed using multijet modelling-based approaches.

An integrated paper-based sample-to-answer biosensor is proposed, which enables simple paper-based nucleic acid extraction, amplification and detection for point-of-care testing.

The beating heart-on-a-chip (i) generates 3D cardiac constructs with well-defined geometries from cell-laden hydrogel prepolymers, (ii) provides uniaxial cyclic mechanical stimulation, (iii) allows efficient delivery of drugs and chemicals.

World's smallest, fully autonomous, handheld real-time PCR was shown in this contribution. The device can quickly process up to four samples at a time with detection capability of a single DNA copy. The fully integrated system includes all required electronics for fluorescence measurement, data viewing (LCD display) and processing, and is ideal for use in small clinics and point-of-care applications.

Tumor-derived circulating exosomes, enriched with a group of tumor antigens, have been recognized as a promising biomarker source for cancer diagnosis via a less invasive procedure.

3D printing enables the rapid and cost-efficient manufacturing of bespoke, complex prototypes. We show that biocompatibility needs to be considered carefully and provide a specific assay to that effect.

Sample supply remains the only manual handling step for pathogen detection at the point-of-care.

An integrated digital droplet PCR system is presented that enables droplet generation, PCR amplification, and readout within a single reaction chamber on a centrifugal microfluidic LabDisk.