Lab on a Chip Blog

The online conference on Emerging Investigators in Microfluidics Conference (EIMC) will take place from Tuesday 20th to Wednesday 21st of July 2021, starting at 8:00 EDT- Boston Time/ 13:00h UTC/14:00h CEST-Amsterdam-Madrid.

In the last 30 years, the field of microfluidics has transitioned from infancy to an established discipline with diverse applications being explored by an equally diverse community of scientists and engineers. The field has matured to a state where researchers can buy off-the-shelf microfluidic equipment (chips, pumps, flow meters etc.) and microfluidic componentry is standard within numerous different commercialized analytical and diagnostic devices. However, the continued development of the field depends on the supply of fresh innovative ideas and the nurturing of new leaders within the field.

This meeting aims to showcase work from the next generation of microfluidics researchers (specifically academics/researchers in permanent positions of less than ~6 years, and earlier career stages). The meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss recent developments in the field and develop future research opportunities as part of an overall aim to nurture and promote the careers of emerging researchers within the international microfluidic community.

The conference will run over two days and feature sessions focusing on three “hot” areas of microfluidics: synthetic biology (artificial cells, organ on a chip), portable devices (point-of-care diagnostics, in-the-field analysis), and bioanalysis (single cell analysis, nucleic acid analysis). Oral sessions will feature presentations by invited speakers, in addition to presentations selected from submission of abstracts. There will be a session for researchers to present posters, with additional networking opportunities.

Conference Organisers

• Other areas of microfluidics
• Single cell analysis
• Diagnostics
• Analytical chemistry/biochemistry
• Synthetic biology
• Artificial cells
• Organs on a chip

Key Dates

Register your attendance for the conference here

Learn more about the conference details here

Look at the conference schedule here

Written by Darius Rackus

Do you know which country has an airport with an IATA code of “OMG”? How about when the most recent Swiss canton joined the Swiss Confederacy? Or do you know where the article first describing a miniaturized total analysis system was published? For trivia boffins and scientists in microfluidics, these were the types of questions asked at the third annual student mixer at the International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (microTAS).

For the past three years, microTAS has been hosting networking events for postgraduate students and female faculty. This year, students were invited to a pub quiz where they could not only test their trivia knowledge but also meet peers from different labs and different countries.

Over 200 students showed up for the night, and at least 150 participated in the quiz. The one rule given was that teams had to include students from at least two different countries and students were quick to form very diverse teams. The winning team had students representing Switzerland, China, Japan, and Israel. While there was lots of Swiss chocolate to be won, the main benefit was making new connections, which can sometimes be daunting at large international conferences.

The event was hosted by the Chemical and Biological Miniaturization Society (CBMS) and prizes were sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the journal Analytical Chemistry (ACS), and Dolomite. The winning team took home microfluidics-branded hoodies and 400 g each of fine Swiss chocolate. Of course, winning isn’t everything and networking events like this are great opportunities for connecting early career researchers. Hopefully this will continue to be a fixture of future microTAS conferences.

MicroTAS student mixer. Photo credit: André Kling

For the curious, the answers to the questions are a) Namibia (Omega Airport), b) Canton Jura was formed and joined in 1979, and c) Manz, Graber and Widmer coined the term “µTAS” in their 1990 Sensors and Actuators B publication. 

About the webwriter

Darius Rackus (right) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Dittrich Bionalytics Group at ETH Zürich. His research interests are in developing integrated microfluidic tools for healthcare and bioanalysis

The 14th annual Ontario-on-a-Chip symposium will take place between 16th-17th May 2019 at the University of Toronto. The symposium will feature talks from the following keynote speakers: Dr. Peter Loskill from University of Tübingen, Dr. Wei Gao from Caltech, Dr. Michael Moore from Tulane University, and Dr. David Issadore from UPenn.

ORGANIZERS:

Dr. Edmond Young, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto

Dr. Milica Radisic, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto

Dr. Xinyu Liu, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto

Registration is now open! Deadline to register will be midnight April 23, 2019. The deadline for abstract submission is April 15th, 2019!

The meeting will be held in the George Ignatieff Theatre located at:

15 Devonshire Pl, Toronto, ON M5S 2C8

More information about directions to the venue can be found at:

http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/visit/bookings/git/audience.html

Any questions about the event, please contact dan.voicu@utoronto.ca.

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the SelectBio Conferences that take place throughout 2019. The various events and exhibitions will bring together a number of keynote speakers to discuss the most up-to-date technologies and advances in different evolving fields. Check out the SelectBio website for a list of events and descriptions, including a full list of confirmed plenary speakers. Some of the events will be hosted in Coronado Island, California and the Europe-based conferences will take place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Lab on a Chip, Analyst, Analytical Methods and Biomaterials Science are delighted to sponsor the following upcoming events and exhibitions in 2019:

SelectBio: Circulating Biomarkers and Liquid Biopsies, Coronado Island

SelectBio: Biosensors Summit, Coronado Island

SelectBio: 3D-Culture and Organoids, Coronado Island

SelectBio: Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Europe, Rotterdam

SelectBio: Organ-on-a-Chip and Tissue-on-a-Chip Europe, Rotterdam

SelectBio: Point-of-Care, Mobile Diagnostics and Biosensors Europe, Rotterdam

SelectBio: Biofabrication & Biomanufacturing Europe, Rotterdam

SelectBio: Point-of-Care Diagnostics, Wearables & Global Health 2019

SelectBio: Lab-on-a-Chip & Microfluidics World Congress 2019

SelectBio: Microfluidics for Circulating Biomarkers Summit 2019

SelectBio: Microfluidics & Flow Chemistry 2019

SelectBio: Organ-on-a-Chip World Congress 2019

Single Cell & Single Molecule Analysis Summit 2019

We recommend registering early to secure a place at these events. Remember to keep your eyes peeled for upcoming conferences, and stay connected with SelectBio. Register now!

Acoustofluidics 2018 is a three-day conference that will take place this year in Lille, France between 29th – 31st August. 

The meeting is dedicated to exploring the science, engineering, and use of micro to nanoscale acoustofluidics. The full list of invited speakers has now been confirmed and published, as well as information on registration fees and the cost of the conference dinner. Please see the conference website for details on abstract submission and how to register.

This May, the University of Toronto hosted the 13^th annual Ontario-on-a-Chip (OOAC) symposium in conjunction with the Training Program in Organ-on-a-Chip Engineering & Entrepreneurship (TOeP) annual research day. This two-day event has a tradition of bringing together the local microfluidics community as well as an exceptional programme of keynote and invited speakers. One highlight of this year’s program included the keynote lecture from Howard Stone (Princeton) at the start of the event. Dr. Stone gave a fascinating talk describing his group’s work trying to understand bacterial motility in flow environments as well as the use of diffusiophoresis—generating electric fields through liquid junction potentials—to separate particles in flow, and this generated a lot of discussion over the two days. Two great overviews of emerging topics were also given: Sabeth Verpoorte (U. Groningen) provided an engaging perspective on the journey from cells in microchannels to organ-on-a-chip technology, and Dan Huh (U. Penn.) spoke on his lab’s efforts to develop various complex organs-on-a-chip, including a blinking eye. In the same vein, Ravi Selvaganapathy (McMaster U.) shared his work on developing tools and materials for low-cost bioprinting.

Lab-on-a-Chip first place poster award presented to Jae Bem You (left) by Edmond Young (right)

In addition to a great program of keynote and invited speakers, student presentations and posters are at the core of the symposium. This year, Jae Bem You (Sinton Lab, U. Toronto) won the Lab on a Chip sponsored Top Poster Prize for his poster on isolation and immobilization of single sperm cells for motility and genetic analysis. The symposium was organized by Edmond Young (U. Toronto), Scott Tsai (Ryerson) and Milica Radisic (U. Toronto). The organizers are grateful to Lab on a Chip for their support, and look forward to bringing the microfluidics community together again next year!

About the Webwriters

Darius Rackus (Right) is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto working in the Wheeler Lab. His research interests are in combining sensors with digital microfluidics for healthcare applications.