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Under a month left to submit your nominations for the Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship

03 May 2012

Pioneers of Miniaturisation 2011 winner Professor Ali Khademhosseini (Harvard-MIT, USA) with LOC Editor HArp Minhas and Po-Ki Yuen (Corning Inc).

Last year's winner Professor Ali Khademhosseini (Harvard-MIT, USA) with LOC Editor HArp Minhas and Po-Ki Yuen (Corning Inc).

There is just under a month left for you to submit your nominations for the Lab on a Chip/Corning Inc Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture – the deadline is 28th May 2012.

The Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture is awarded annually to an early to mid-career scientist for contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturised systems, so if you have an outstanding post-doc in your group or know an extraordinary Assistant Professor, put their names forward today!

The Lectureship will be jointly awarded by Lab on a Chip and Corning Incorporated at the annual µTAS Conference, to be held in Okinawa, Japan, this year and includes $5000 ($2000 of which may be used to attend µTAS).

Please see the Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture page for full details on how to make a nomination.

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LOC paper on a smartphone-based RDT reader platform in the press

01 May 2012

Another paper from Lab on a Chip has recently been causing a stir in the scientific press – this time from Aydogan Ozcan, from UCLA, and colleagues. The device they have designed is a reader platform for Rapid-Diagnostic-Tests (RDTs) which is utilises the imaging and processing capabilities of a smartphone to avoid manual diagnosis errors. The platform can read multiple RDTs, and the authors hope that it will help track emerging epidemics worldwide, by enabling easy sharing of results via programs such as Google Maps.

Take a look at the news stories in R&D mag, CNET and PhysOrg for interviews with Aydogan Ozcan and the UCLA website for a neat video on the research.

Integrated Rapid-Diagnostic-Test Reader Platform on a Cellphone
Onur Mudanyali, Stoyan Dimitrov, Uzair Sikora, Swati Padmanabhan, Isa Navruz and Aydogan Ozcan
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40235A

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LOC article on the capture of tumour cells featured in the press

30 Apr 2012

An article recently published in Lab on a Chip on the capture and culture of rare circulating tumour cells from Donald Ingber and Joo Kang has featured on CNET and PhysOrg. The device, which the team describes as a ‘micromagnetic-microfluidic device’ is capable of separating almost 90% of circulating tumour cells from blood by binding them to magnetic beads. Due to the design of the channels in the device, the CTCs remain viable following isolation and can be used further for culture and testing.

Read the full article here:

A combined micromagnetic-microfluidic device for rapid capture and culture of rare circulating tumor cells
Joo H. Kang, Silva Krause, Heather Tobin, Akiko Mammoto, Mathumai Kanapathipillai and Donald E. Ingber
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40072C

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Latest hot articles on selective droplet fusion and bubble control in nanoparticle synthesis

13 Apr 2012

Linas Mazutis and Andrew Griffiths demonstrate a passive approach to selectively fuse droplets in 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 ratios. They show that spontaneous droplet coalescence is dependant on the contact time between droplets before coalescence, and coverage by the surfactant.

Selective droplet coalescence using microfluidic systems
Linas Mazutis and Andrew D. Griffiths
Lab Chip, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40121E

The second hot article is from Saif A. Khan and Suhanya Duraiswamy, who have come up with a way to avoid the problems caused by the evolution of bubbles of H₂in the synthesis of nanoparticles on chips. They inject a stream of N₂gas into the microfluidic channels, which captures the H₂before it can reach the threshold for bubble nucleation and have shown the method works for the synthesis of ultra-small gold nanocrystals.

Controlling bubbles using bubbles—microfluidic synthesis of ultra-small gold nanocrystals with gas-evolving reducing agents
Saif A. Khan and Suhanya Duraiswamy
Lab Chip, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21198J

Both these papers are free to access for 4 weeks following a simple registration for individual users.

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Hot articles on screening antibiotic toxicity, commercializing point-of-care diagnostics & on-bead expression of recombinant proteins

05 Apr 2012

We’re almost ready to wrap up for Easter here, but we have a few treats in the form of free* hot articles for you before we go!

First is a hot article from Piotr Garstecki and co-workers on their microfluidic device to screen hundreds of different cocktails of antibiotics to find combinations that will prove lethal to bacteria and overcome resistance:

Rapid screening of antibiotic toxicity in an automated microdroplet system
Krzysztof Churski, Tomasz S. Kaminski, Slawomir Jakiela, Wojciech Kamysz, Wioletta Baranska-Rybak, Douglas B. Weibel and Piotr Garstecki
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 1629-1637
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21284F

Next is a Critical Review from Samuel Sia and colleagues on the achievements and challenges in commercialising microfluidic point-of-care diagnostics devices, with advice based on their own experiences:

Commercialization of microfluidic point-of-care diagnostic devices
Curtis D. Chin, Vincent Linder and Samuel K. Sia
Lab Chip, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21204H

And the final hot article is from Dong-Myung Kim and colleagues who have developed a new method for expression and capture of recombinant proteins on the same bead:

On-bead expression of recombinant proteins in an agarose gel matrix coated on a glass slide
Kyung-Ho Lee, Ka-Young Lee, Ju-Young Byun, Byung-Gee Kim and Dong-Myung Kim
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 1605-1610
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21239K

Happy reading!

* Articles are free to access for individual users following a simple registration process

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Gut-on-a-Chip in the New Scientist!

04 Apr 2012

The article on a ‘gut-on-a-chip’ from Editorial Board member Don Ingber and colleagues which has been causing some rumblings in the scientific press over the last couple of weeks has made it to the New Scientist. The article also recently featured as a Nature Research Highlight and is part of one of our forthcoming themed issues – watch this space!

Human gut-on-a-chip inhabited by microbial flora that experiences intestinal peristalsis-like motions and flow
Hyun Jung Kim, Dongeun Huh, Geraldine Hamilton and Donald E. Ingber
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40074J

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Have you made your nominations for a Pioneer of Miniaturisation?

20 Mar 2012

Editor Harp Minhas and Editorial Board member Po Ki Yuen (Corning Inc) with Ali Khademhosseini (2011 Lectureship winner)

The Lab on a Chip/Corning Inc Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture is awarded annually to an early to mid-career scientist for extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturised systems.

The Lectureship is jointly awarded by Lab on a Chip and Corning Incorporated at the annual µTAS Conference, to be held this year in Okinawa, Japan, and includes $5000 ($2000 of which may be used to attend µTAS).

Previous winners include Professor Stephen Quake (Stanford, California, USA) and Professor Ali Khademhosseini (Harvard-MIT, USA).

We would like to invite you to nominate your outstanding colleagues for this lectureship – the deadline for nominations is 28th May 2012. Full details of the criteria and how to submit the nominations are to be found on the Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture webpage.

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Call for papers: Emerging Investigators themed issue

20 Mar 2012

Lab on a Chip will again be publishing a themed issue dedicated to the work of Emerging Investigators, guested edited by Professors Amy Herr and Aaron Wheeler, with the aim of giving wide-spread exposure to current advances from new investigators and stimulate further progress in the field based on these new advances.

We are inviting promising researchers, to contribute original research in their own areas of expertise to make a valuable addition to the current literature via this exciting project. The Emerging Investigators themed issue will focus on technical contributions made by investigators who started their first independent position (e.g., Assistant Professor) within the last seven years.

We are hoping that you will be able to make a contribution of original, unpublished work conducted in your independent laboratory for this issue.

For an example of a previous Emerging Investigators issue, please see here.

The final submission deadline for manuscripts will be April 30, 2012, with the aim of publication to coincide with µTAS 2012, in late-October 2012. If you would like more information, or wish to contribute to this exciting issue, please contact the Lab on a Chip Editorial Office.

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Our series on acoustofluidics is growing!

14 Mar 2012

We’ve now published the 8th article is our Acoustofluidics series: Applications of acoustophoresis in continuous flow microsystems. This tutorial focuses on different applications of continuous flow microfluidic acoustic standing wave manipulation such as cell and particle concentration, separation and fractionation.

If you’ve missed any of the previous articles take a look at the web collection here.

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Issue 4 just published including hot articles on self-propelling droplets, cell-resolution vertebrate screening & quick genotyping

26 Jan 2012

Issue 4 is now available online and on the outside front cover we have a hot article from on an automated cellular-resolution vertebrate screening platform from Mehmet Fatih Yanik and an equally exciting image to accompany it!

Fully automated cellular-resolution vertebrate screening platform with parallel animal processing
Tsung-Yao Chang, Carlos Pardo-Martin, Amin Allalou, Carolina Wählby and Mehmet Fatih Yanik
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20849G

On the inside front cover is another hot article, this time from Katsuo Kurabayashi who has developed a vapor preconcentrator/injector for microscale GC.

Microfabricated passive vapor preconcentrator/injector designed for microscale gas chromatography
Jung Hwan Seo, Sun Kyu Kim, Edward T. Zellers and Katsuo Kurabayashi
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20932B

The issue also features a whole host of hot articles on topics from education to droplets, which will be free to access for 4 weeks:

Education: a microfluidic platform for university-level analytical chemistry laboratories
Jesse Greener, Ethan Tumarkin, Michael Debono, Andrew P. Dicks and Eugenia Kumacheva
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20951A

Self-propelling surfactant droplets in chemically-confined microfluidics – cargo transport, drop-splitting and trajectory control
David K. N. Sinz and Anton A. Darhuber
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21082G

Droplet-based microfluidic device for multiple-droplet clustering
Jing Xu, Byungwook Ahn, Hun Lee, Linfeng Xu, Kangsun Lee, Rajagopal Panchapakesan and Kwang W. Oh
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20883K

Quick genotyping detection of HBV by giant magnetoresistive biochip combined with PCR and line probe assay
Xiao Zhi, Qingsheng Liu, Xin Zhang, Yixia Zhang, Jie Feng and Daxiang Cui
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20949G

Rapid prototyping of three-dimensional microfluidic mixers in glass by femtosecond laser direct writing
Yang Liao, Jiangxin Song, En Li, Yong Luo, Yinglong Shen, Danping Chen, Ya Cheng, Zhizhan Xu, Koji Sugioka and Katsumi Midorikawa
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21015K

Ultrahigh sensitivity assays for human cardiac troponin I using TiO2 nanotube arrays
Piyush Kar, Archana Pandey, John J. Greer and Karthik Shankar
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20892J

Also, take a look at the latest article in our acoustofluidics series – Building microfluidic acoustic resonators.

Building microfluidic acoustic resonators

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