Francesca Burgoyne – Page 8 – Lab on a Chip Blog

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Lab on a Chip paper on artificial lung in the press

28 Jul 2011

Joseph Potkay‘s recently published Lab on a Chip paper on an artificial lung capable of using air rather than pure oxygen has been causing quite a stir! The article which describes the efficient lung mimic has been picked up by media outlets around the world:

New artificial lung breathes like a real one

New bioinspired artificial lung is efficient enough to operate on air

Researchers create artificial lung that works with air rather than pure oxygen

A New Artificial Lung Can Breathe Regular Air Rather Than Purified Oxygen

Artificial lungs to work sans oxygen

For the full details of this exciting new technology why not take a look at the paper:

Bio-inspired, efficient, artificial lung employing air as the ventilating gas
Joseph A. Potkay, Michael Magnetta, Abigail Vinson and Brian Cmolik
Lab Chip, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20020H

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A light-induced reversible switch for droplet production and μFlowFISH on the cover of Issue 16

27 Jul 2011

The image on the outside front cover of Issue 16 shows the method developed by Damien Baigl, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, and colleagues to reversibly switch from a continuous two-phase laminar flow to a droplet generating regime in microfluidic chips. They have achieved this by incorporating a photosensitive surfactant into the aqueous phase.

Photoreversible fragmentation of a liquid interface for micro-droplet generation by light actuation
Antoine Diguet, Hao Li, Nicolas Queyriaux, Yong Chen and Damien Baigl
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2666-2669

On the inside front cover we have μFlowFISH – an integrated microfluidic device capable of performing 16S rRNA fluorescence in situ hybridization with flow cytometric detection for identifying bacteria. The device developed by Anup K. Singh, Sandia National Laboratories and colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories was tested in a highly contaminated site using species involved in Cr(VI) remediation and was proved capable of quantitative detection of low numbers of microbial cells from complex samples.

Microfluidic fluorescence in situ hybridization and flow cytometry (μFlowFISH)
Peng Liu, Robert J. Meagher, Yooli K. Light, Suzan Yilmaz, Romy Chakraborty, Adam P. Arkin, Terry C. Hazen and Anup K. Singh
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2673-2679

View the rest of the issue, which includes the first in the series of Research Highlight articles from Ali Khademhosseini, reviewing the current literature in miniaturisation and related technologies, a Critical Review from Daniel T. Chiu on transitioning disposable microfluidic substrates from the lab into the clinic and a Focus article from Helene Andersson Svahn on massively parallel sequencing platforms.

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No more oxygen for artificial lung

14 Jul 2011

US scientists have mimicked the structure of a lung to make a device that can use air as a ventilating gas instead of pure oxygen. The invention could mean that oxygen cylinders to accompany artificial lung devices for lung disease patients are a thing of the past and implantable devices could be a step closer.

Joseph Potkay from Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Centre and co-workers fashioned microfluidic channels from the polymer polydimethylsiloxane and made them branch into smaller channels and then into artificial capillaries, similar to the arteries and capillaries in a real lung. The oxygen exchange efficiency is three to five times better than current artificial lung devices owing to the small, micron-scale, blood and air channels.

: The artificial lung device consists of small microfluidic channels, similar in size to blood vessels in real lungs, with a membrane for oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange

At the moment, lung disease patients in need of respiratory support rely on mechanical ventilators in which blood from the patient is circulated through a machine to oxygenate it. As Jeffrey Borenstein, an expert in microsystems technology and biomedical devices at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, US, points out: ‘Current technology involves complex systems that are limited to intensive care units, so Potkay’s device has the potential to provide clinically relevant oxygenation levels using ambient air, opening the door to portable systems.’

The team aims to improve their device’s blood compatibility and scale it up so it can deliver enough oxygen to be suitable for humans.

Interested? Read Holly Sheahan‘s full Chemistry World article here or download the Lab on a Chip paper:

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On the cover: Teflon microreactors, fabric chips and droplets with removable shells

13 Jul 2011

On the front cover of Issue 15 we have a HOT article from Klavs Jensen and colleagues at MIT on a Teflon stack microreactor with a piezoelectric actuator. The microreactor has been developed to handle syntheses that are prone to clogging – such as palladium-catalyzed C–N cross-coupling reactions which form insoluble salts as by-products.

A Teflon microreactor with integrated piezoelectric actuator to handle solid forming reactions
Simon Kuhn, Timothy Noël, Lei Gu, Patrick L. Heider and Klavs F. Jensen
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2488-2492
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20337A

On the inside front cover is another HOT article from Dhananjaya Dendukuri and colleagues at Achira Labs Pvt. Ltd., India who have constructed a scalable microfluidic device by weaving silk to form a fabric chip.

‘Fab-Chips’: a versatile, fabric-based platform for low-cost, rapid and multiplexed diagnostics
Paridhi Bhandari, Tanya Narahari and Dhananjaya Dendukuri
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2493-2499
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20373H

And finally the back cover features an article from Shih-Kang Fan and Chiun-Hsun Chen demonstrating a parallel-plate device capable of generating water-core and oil-shell encapsulated droplets and subsequent removal of the oil shells.

Encapsulated droplets with metered and removable oil shells by electrowetting and dielectrophoresis
Shih-Kang Fan, Yao-Wen Hsu and Chiun-Hsun Chen
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2500-2508
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20142E

View the rest of the issue online here

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HOT: introducing the iMAP – an integrated microfluidic array plate

11 Jul 2011

The latest innovation in microfluidic cell assay platforms is here! Capable of triple analysis with low cell numbers, the iMAP is the answer to your cellular and molecular analysis quandaries.

Key features of iMAP v1.0:

interfaced on-board gravity driven flow
open access input fluid exchange
a highly efficient sedimentation based cell capture mechanism

The integrated microfluidic array plate has been developed by Luke Lee, University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues at Dublin City University, Sogang University and Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile. Download the article for the full details, it’s free to access for four weeks.

Integrated microfluidic array plate (iMAP) for cellular and molecular analysis
Ivan K. Dimov, Gregor Kijanka, Younggeun Park, Jens Ducrée, Taewook Kang and Luke P. Lee
Lab Chip, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20105K

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Lab on a Chip 2010 Impact Factor released

30 Jun 2011

Lab on a Chip is delighted to announce a 2010 Impact Factor of 6.26, demonstrating the community support for Lab on a Chip as their journal of choice for miniaturisation at the micro and nanoscale, for both fundamental and applications-based research.

Our thanks to all of our Editorial and Advisory Board members, authors and referees.

View the RSC Publishing blog for important news on the overall RSC Impact Factor performance.

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One in the eye for diabetes

29 Jun 2011

Another LOC article has been highlighted in Chemistry World! This article from Mu Chiao and colleagues describes the fabrication of a device that could be implanted behind the eye to release drugs on demand to treat retinal damage caused by diabetes.

Diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness. A current treatment is laser therapy, which is destructive and results in side effects, such as diminished side and night vision, and unwanted laser burns. Another therapy is to administer antiproliferative drugs, such as docetaxel (normally a cancer drug), but the compounds clear from the blood quickly, so high doses are needed to produce the desired effect, which increases toxicity to other tissues.

Mu Chiao and colleagues from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver have made a device to be implanted behind the eye that releases drugs when triggered by an external magnet. This means that the device doesn’t need a battery and lower doses can be used. Implantable devices have been made before but drug release is done by diffusion and the release rates can’t be controlled, which is a problem if the dosage rate needs to be adjusted when a patient’s condition changes.

To find out more read Elinor Richard’s Chemistry World article or download the article itself here:

On-demand controlled release of docetaxel from a battery-less MEMS drug delivery device
Fatemeh Nazly Pirmoradi, John K. Jackson, Helen M. Burt and Mu Chiao
Lab Chip, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20134D

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Artificial photosynthesis on a chip and 3D particle foccussing on the cover of issue 14

29 Jun 2011

The two striking images on the cover of Issue 14 are from Chan Beum Park and Tony Jun Huang.

The image on the outside front cover depicts a microfluidic artificial photosynthesis platform created by Chan Beum Park‘s group at KAIST. The platform which incorporates quantum dots and redox enzymes is capable of enzymatic synthesis of L-glutamate following light-driven NADH regeneration, similar to photosynthesis in green plants.

Artificial photosynthesis on a chip: microfluidic cofactor regeneration and photoenzymatic synthesis under visible light
Joon Seok Lee, Sahng Ha Lee, Jae Hong Kim and Chan Beum Park
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2309-2311
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20303G

Highlighted on the inside front cover is another exciting article, demonstrating the 3D focussing of particles in a microfluidic channel using standing surface acoustic waves. The paper builds on previous work from Tony Jun Huang‘s team at Penn State which had achieved 2D control of particles using the technique.

Three-dimensional continuous particle focusing in a microfluidic channel via standing surface acoustic waves (SSAW)
Jinjie Shi, Shahrzad Yazdi, Sz-Chin Steven Lin, Xiaoyun Ding, I-Kao Chiang, Kendra Sharp and Tony Jun Huang
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2319-2324
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20042A

View the issue here

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HOT: a quick, cheap method for fabricating microwells for cell cultures

24 Jun 2011

A new method to fabricate microwells for lab-on-a-chip scale high-throughput screening is demonstrated in this HOT article. Whereas previous manufacturing processes can be long, costly and require a lot of equipment, this technique is relatively simple and cheap.

By using a laser to pattern a polyester film coated with silicone glue, Ali Khademhosseini, Harvard-MIT, and colleagues have successfully demonstrated the fabrication of hundreds of microwells in a matter of minutes. The diameter of the microwells can be controlled by adjusting laser speed and power, and the well depth can be increased by stacking layers of film.

Download the article to read more – it’s free to access for the next 4 weeks:

Microfabricated polyester conical microwells for cell culture applications
Šeila Selimović, Francesco Piraino, Hojae Bae, Marco Rasponi, Alberto Redaelli and Ali Khademhosseini
Lab Chip, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20213H

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Lab on a Chip Blog

Author Archive

Lab on a Chip paper on artificial lung in the press

A light-induced reversible switch for droplet production and μFlowFISH on the cover of Issue 16

No more oxygen for artificial lung

On the cover: Teflon microreactors, fabric chips and droplets with removable shells

HOT: introducing the iMAP – an integrated microfluidic array plate

Lab on a Chip 2010 Impact Factor released

One in the eye for diabetes

Artificial photosynthesis on a chip and 3D particle foccussing on the cover of issue 14

Top ten most accessed articles in May

HOT: a quick, cheap method for fabricating microwells for cell cultures

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