Themed collection 150th Anniversary Collection: Microfluidics

Paper-based microfluidics offers a promising way to in situ sweat detection for non-invasive continuous monitoring. This passage reviews and prospects its development regarding materials, structuring, fabrication, modular design and application.

Microfluidic platforms with 3D tumour spheroid culture provide platforms to study the multi-cellular interactions and external stimuli in the complex tumour microenvironment.

Currently, there exists a multitude of different exosome isolation and characterization approaches based on biophysical and/or biochemical characteristics. Herein we review various technologies for separation of distinct exosome subpopulations.

This review comprehensively discusses the methods and applications of various microfluidic functionalities for implantable medical devices.

Smartphone-based colorimetric glucose detection methods have the advantageous combination of software and hardware systems that will revolutionize the concept of smartphone-based platforms from glucose measurement to personal health management.

The advances in 3D capillary-driven microfluidics for bioanalytical devices, including design and surface chemistry, are presented. Classification of capillary flow control elements is presented based on two functional steps of stop and actuation.

Typical forms of a combination of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technology with sensing and other microfluidic manipulation techniques are reviewed from a technical perspective, including the purposes, significance, and biomedical applications.

This review focuses on the recent advances in the fundamentals of single-cell droplet microfluidics and its applications in biomedicine, providing insights into design and establishment of single-cell microsystems and their further performance.

A comprehensive review of recent progress in inertial microfluidics with special focus on multistage cell separation and detection devices in addition to straight and curved channels.

Complete layout of a centrifugal microfluidic system.

A silk wearable patch with electronic and microfluidics systems was fabricated by 3D printing methods. The self-healing and flexible patch was used as a sensitive biochemical and physiological wearable sensor.

Recent advances in the development of microfluidic systems for the culture of complex and three-dimensional cell, tissue, and organ models allow their use in toxicity studies and mimicking many diseases.

We present a novel microfluidic platform combining a Digestion-Chip and a Gut-Chip. The setup is able to simulate digestion and test digested samples in the cell-based Gut-Chip to evaluate intestinal permeability without compromising cell viability.

Base-stacking digital-quantitative-PCR rapidly measures miRNA with single-molecule sensitivity in a microfluidic platform.

To address flow control challenges in microfluidic systems with vacuum-driven flow, integrated valves and capacitors were used to deliver smooth stimulant profiles to murine islets of Langerhans for dynamic insulin secretion measurements.

Inertial microfluidic devices continue to show promise for label-free separation of cells from liquid biopsies and other biological samples.

Rapid, simple, inexpensive, accurate and sensitive point-of-care (POC) detection of viral pathogens in bodily fluids is a vital component of controlling the spread of infectious diseases.

Miniaturised antibiotic susceptibility testing: 100 times smaller microcapillary broth microdilution gives equivalent result to standard microplate broth microdilution.

The developed microfluidic chip is a novel design that facilitates varying shear stress generated by the fluid flow in different parts of the chip for the rheotaxis-based separation of functional human sperm directly from raw semen.

A dual tuneable flow resistive pulse sensor which utilises additively manufactured parts. The sensor allows parts to be easily changed, washed and cleaned, its simplicity and versatility allow components from existing nanopore techniques to be integrated into a single device.

A modular microfluidic platform is developed to enrich EVs on micron-sized carrier beads immobilized with EV-specific antibodies, based on affinity capture, and elute pure EVs from the carrier beads in a high throughput.

Multiplex digital polymerase chain reaction (digital PCR) with digital melting curve analysis (digital MCA) on a self-partitioning SlipChip can provide absolute quantification of different target nucleic acids by designed signature melting profiles.

Multiplexed immunoaffinity monoliths formed in 3D printed microfluidic devices facilitate extraction and elution to purify and preconcentrate preterm risk biomarkers in blood serum.

The main steps for Infliximab quantification from the blood collection to plasma measurement by conventional and microfluidic ELISA.

Here, a smartphone app named Hi-perox Sens supported by machine learning classifiers was applied to a μPAD based on an iodide-mediated TMB-H₂O₂ reaction system for non-enzymatic colorimetric determination of H₂O₂.

Diazirine-functionalized hydrogels have lower fluorescence background signal compared to benzophenone-functionalized hydrogels for in-gel immunoassays and can improve the lower limit of detection of fluorescence immunoassays.

A microsphere mediated exosome isolation and ultra-sensitive detection ExoDEP-chip was developed. A detection limit of 193 exosomes per mL was obtained by dispersing PS microspheres into microwells to reduce the fluorescence interference.

Glioma cells lost their circularity and increased their steady-state velocities; in other words, they adopted an invasive glioma phenotype in the presence of macrophage-depleted medium.

The centrifugal microfluidic detection system employs loop–mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay and provides sample-in-answer-out nucleic acid detection of Human papillomavirus (HPV).

Chitosan diffraction-based leaky waveguides were shown to have good reproducibility and be suitable for monitoring the binding of anti-biotin antibody to biotin in the presence of physiological levels of serum albumin.

Point-of-care monitoring of chemical biomarkers in real-time holds great potential in rapid disease diagnostics and precision medicine.

A herringbone microfluidic chip combined with vancomycin-modified magnetic beads is developed to enrich bacteria efficiently from urine samples followed by MALDI-TOF identification.

Microfluidic extraction and subsequent SERS measurements are proposed for online detection of trace amounts of poorly water-soluble pharmaceuticals in relevant kinds of water-based solutions.

An HIV detection assay featuring a low-cost μPAD for electrophoretic RNA extraction and rapid isothermal nucleic acid amplification.

The process for simultaneous analysis of five metal ions with one device by using Bc, PAR, DTZ, PAR, and DMG for Cu(II), Co(II), Hg(II), Mn(II), and Ni(II) detection, respectively.

We developed a low-cost molecular test for the diagnosis of COVID-19, in a centrifugal microdevice, based on RT-LAMP assay run at 72 °C for 10 min.

Fluorescent liposomes are coupled inside a microfluidic device to magnetic particles to achieve potent multifunctional labels for high performance bioassays.

Microfluidic chip and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry based bacterial antimicrobial resistance analysis has been implemented rapidly and accurately.