Themed collection Lab on a Chip Recent Open Access Articles

Organs-on-chips can be ‘personalised’ so they can be used as functional tests to inform clinical decision-making for specific patients.

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 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.

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.

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.

3D printing has emerged as a valuable approach for the fabrication of fluidic devices and may replace soft-lithography as the method of choice for rapid prototyping.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Recent developments in the lab-on-PCB integration technology, highlighting its standardized industrial fabrication potential.

Nanoparticles have been widely implemented for healthcare and nanoscience industrial applications.

Emulsion waveguides: a new modular sensing approach in which complex emulsions serve as efficient transducers in optical evanescent field-based waveguide sensors is reported.

We present a novel extension of laminar flow patterning using Darcy flow within cured three-dimensional hydrogels for precise delivery of solutes.

Biomolecular recognition can be attained by using the self-assembled monolayer modification for capture of a target analyte on the nanowire surfaces instead of primary antibodies.

An adhesive-based strategy for the low-cost and reversible sealing of a wide range of materials used in microfluidics, requiring only the application of manually-achievable pressures.

Seamless on-chip integration of a micro reaction unit and an HPLC functionality coupled to MS allows to study stereo selective chemical transformations at the microscale.

A microfluidic centrifugation assisted precipitation method for rapid DNA visualization and quantification.

We report a proof-of-principle demonstration of particle concentration to achieve high-throughput resistive pulse detections of bacteria using a microfluidic-channel-integrated micropore.

We present a single-bacteria hydrodynamic trapping platform to detect antibiotic susceptibility and resistance by simultaneously monitoring motility and morphology of individual E. coli.

Combining experimental and theoretical approach, we demonstrate practical solutions to limiting currents in capillary-based electrophoretic delivery devices.

Implementing a new designed cooling system for rigorous temperature control and minimal acoustic energy losses allows high-throughput multiplex acoustophoresis.

The development of drugs to treat cancer is hampered by the inefficiency of translating pre-clinical in vitro monoculture and mouse studies into clinical benefit.

A membrane-based resonator detecting filament formation of biological samples in a label- and functionalization-free manner.

A novel step emulsifier allows high throughput production of monodisperse emulsions. Additionally, different modes of droplet production are investigated.

Inertial focusing in curved channels is demonstrated for particles between 0.5 and 2.0 μm in diameter; a range of biological relevance since it comprises a multitude of bacteria and organelles of eukaryotic cells.

Lipid coated liquid crystal droplets have been trapped in a novel trap structure for the on-chip detection of a model antimicrobial peptide – Smp43, an α-helical peptide from Scorpion Venom.

In this work a new method to track particles in microfluidic channels is presented.

Generation of exact cell clusters in the CAGE chip allows for paracrine signaling studies in models of specific tissue niches.

We present a methodology for building biologically inspired, soft microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.

We quantify the membranolytic activity of antimicrobial peptides on biomimetic lipid vesicles in a multilayer microfluidic total analysis system.

Latchable microfluidic valve arrays taking advantage of the shape memory polymer's multiple stable shapes and large change in stiffness for a small temperature variation.

The capillary microseparator is an important microfluidic device for achieving the inline separation of biphasic segmented flows.

A high-capacity microfluidic platform designed to capture tens of thousands of giant vesicles for high-throughput membrane analysis.

We implemented continuous-flow SABRE NMR spectroscopy on a chip, unlocking low-volume chemosensing of strongly diluted analytes.

An acoustophoretic microreactor to manage particles in flow and to control the material synthesis process.

A lung/liver-on-a-chip platform with metabolic capability over 28 days: a fit-for-purpose microfluidic system for toxicity assessment of pulmonary toxicants.

A correlative light and electron microscopy system that utilizes PDMS substrates with coded micro-patterns has been developed.

Bead-triggered breakup of a fluid jet into monodispersed droplets improves the throughput of bead-based droplet workflows, enabling the analysis of large populations and the detection of rare events.

Elastic light scattering and machine learning accurately discriminates between healthy children, those with iron deficiency, and those with thalassemia minor.

Molecular motors, essential to force-generation and cargo transport within cells, are invaluable tools for powering nanobiotechnological lab-on-a-chip devices.

The use of millifluidics technology for human midbrain organoid cultures reduces central cell death and increases dopaminergic neuron differentiation.

Microfluidic culture has the potential to revolutionize cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Improved reproducibility in seed particle mediated acoustic trapping of submicron particles enables clinical biomarker studies in extracellular vesicles.

A 1024-pixel CMOS quad-modality cellular interfacing array that enables multi-parametric cell profiling and holistic cellular characterization for drug development.

Here, we have combined quantitative phase microscopy and waveguide trapping techniques to study changes in RBC morphology during planar trapping and transportation.

We developed micro-reactor arrays with a concentration gradient of target molecules for high-throughput single-molecule bioassay.

We introduce a new application of spiral inertial microfluidics for removing small nonviable cells from a mammalian suspension culture.

A novel technology for quantifying hormone secretion from tissues, with a single-cell resolution.

Combining a protein repellent coating and ultrasonic standing waves in microwells enables on-chip formation and confocal microscopy of multicellular tumor spheroids.

This platform utilizes functionalized hydrogel posts contained within isolated nanoliter well reactors for quantitative and multiplex microRNA assays directly from unprocessed cell samples without needing prior nucleic acid extraction.

Whole genome sequencing of single cancer cells isolated and lysed in an injection-moulded valveless microfluidic device.

Dual selection, high-resolution phenotypic screening and genotypic analysis of single-derived bacterial nanocultures using a 672-nanowell slide.

A microfluidic platform containing charged hydrogels is used to investigate the effect of geometry on charge transport in electrodialysis applications.

Cell signalling and mechanics influence vascular pathophysiology and there is an increasing demand for in vitro model systems that enable examination of signalling between vascular cells under hemodynamic conditions.

High-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing of PDMS–paper microfluidics.

We introduce a multiparameter intrinsic cytometry approach for single-cell characterization that combines ≥2 label-free measurement techniques onto the same platform.

Infuse chemical into microdroplets from nanodroplet carriers with rates and dosages controlled by electrical fields, and applications in nanoparticle synthesis.

The position of bubbles in rectangular microchannels can be controlled by tuning the balance of forces acting on them.

A microfluidic cell sorting based selective culture expansion method for mesenchymal stem cell improves cell yield and chondrogenic potential.

Precise fluid height sensing in open-channel microfluidics has long been a desirable feature for a wide range of applications.

A novel microfluidic flocculation screening tool to efficiently compare flocculating agents and rapidly find the best flocculating condition using in situ detection of flocculation growth rates.

New designs of microfluidic devices can facilitate recording of C. elegans larvae neuronal responses to precise mechanical stimuli, which reveal new understanding of development of mechanosensory neurons and circuits.

The biomechanical environment in an acoustofluidic bioreactor is modified by controlling the acoustic driving conditions to promote human cartilage generation.

Miniaturised conical measures for cell aggregates.

Single-layer lithography microfluidic devices for applying high and stable electric fields on chip.

Fluorescence from four emission points is collimated by four lenses, split into four-color fluxes by four dichroic mirrors, and directly input into the image sensor.