Lab on a Chip Blog

We’ve got some great artwork on the covers of Issue 16,  on topics from particle focusing to creating 3D capillary networks and cell signalling.

On the outside front cover we have a HOT article from Ju Min Kim et al who have achieved viscoelasticity-driven focusing of particles as small as 200 nm – a technique which had previously only been achieved with micron-sized particles.  The team also showed that DNA focusing is significantly enhanced by medium viscoelasticity and that the focussing of both the colloidal particles and DNA is dependant on length.

Lateral migration and focusing of colloidal particles and DNA molecules under viscoelastic flow
Jae Young Kim, Sung Won Ahn, Sung Sik Lee and Ju Min Kim
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40147A

On the inside front cover is another HOT article from Noo Li Jeon and colleagues at Seoul University who have designed a 3D array of perfusable capillaries from HUVECs.  The the capillary network can be grown on the microfluidic device in 3-4 days and the authors hope will not only be useful for basic angiogenesis research but also drug screening applications.

In vitro formation and characterization of a perfusable three-dimensional tubular capillary network in microfluidic devices
Ju Hun Yeon, Hyun Ryul Ryu, Minhwan Chung, Qing Ping Hu and Noo Li Jeon
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40131B

Last but not least, on the back cover is research from Anup Singh and colleagues at Sandia National Laboratory who have developed a chip that enables dynamic monitoring of an entire cell signalling pathway in a single experiment, by combining cell culture, stimulation, and preparation for analysis by multicolor flow cytometry and fluorescence imaging in one device.

Microfluidically-unified cell culture, sample preparation, imaging and flow cytometry for measurement of cell signaling pathways with single cell resolution
Meiye Wu, Thomas D. Perroud, Nimisha Srivastava, Catherine S. Branda, Kenneth L. Sale, Bryan D. Carson, Kamlesh D. Patel, Steven S. Branda and Anup K. Singh
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40344G

As with all our cover articles these are free to access for 6 weeks (following a simple registration for an RSC Publishing account).

For more exciting miniaturisation research take a look at the rest of the issue

This week we’re celebrating our 150th issue at Lab on a Chip. Albert van den Berg, Deputy Chair of our Editorial Board, writes about the journal’s history and its exciting future, in his editorial.

The issue’s front cover features artwork from Kamlesh Patel and colleagues, whose critical review discusses the recent advances in digital microfluidics, focusing on applications for chemistry, biology and medicine. Topics discussed include the use of droplets for chemical synthesis, enzyme assays and the analysis of blood.

Digital microfluidics: a versatile tool for applications in chemistry, biology and medicine
Mais J. Jebrail, Michael S. Bartsch and Kamlesh D. Patel
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40318H

A communication from Yanyi Huang and co-workers demonstrating an integrated microfluidic immunoassay chip for high-throughput sandwich immunoassay tests is featured on the inside front cover.

The authors state the device can perform ELISA measurements in one hour with just 1 μL of sample for four repeats.

High-throughput immunoassay through in-channel microfluidic patterning
Chunhong Zheng, Jingwen Wang, Yuhong Pang, Jianbin Wang, Wenbin Li, Zigang Ge and Yanyi Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40145B

The back cover features artwork from Tony Jun Huang and colleagues, whose paper on acoustic-based tunable patterning demonstrates a technique that can arrange microparticles or cells into arrays using pairs of slanted-finger interdigital transducers.

Tunable patterning of microparticles and cells using standing surface acoustic waves
Xiaoyun Ding, Jinjie Shi, Sz-Chin Steven Lin, Shahrzad Yazdi, Brian Kiraly and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21021E

Also in this issue is the latest Research highlight from Ali Khademhosseini, and Acoustofluidics 14: Applications of acoustic streaming in microfluidic devices from Martin Wiklund and co-authors.

Read the rest of the issue here.

Issue 10 of Lab on a Chip is now available online. This week’s front cover features the winning image from the µTAS ‘Art in Science‘ award, which was presented to Dong Jin Shin at the 15th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and the Life Sciences (µTAS) held in Seattle, Washington, USA, on October 2–6, 2011. The image is entitled ‘Ying and Yang in a Droplet’ – more information can be found in the editorial.

The art in science of microTAS
Michael Gaitan and Harp Minhas
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90034C

The inside front cover features work from Ross Booth and Hanseup Kim at the University of Utah. They have developed a microfluidic blood-brain barrier that mimics the in vivo equivalent, using a thin culture membrane. They hope the model will give insight into blood-brain barrier studies and drug delivery methods.

Characterization of a microfluidic in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier (μBBB)
Ross Booth and Hanseup Kim
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40094D

Another HOT article included in this issue comes from Frances Ligler and colleagues at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, and introduces the “MagTrap” device that can perform automated target capture, efficient mixing with reagents, and controlled target release using 6 pairs of magnets in a rotating wheel.

Spinning magnetic trap for automated microfluidic assay systems
Jasenka Verbarg, Kian Kamgar-Parsi, Adam R. Shields, Peter B. Howell and Frances S. Ligler
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21189K

Also included in the issue are this week’s Research highlight from Dr Ali Khademhosseini and Acoustofluidics 11 by Per Augustsson and Thomas Laurell, entitled ‘Affinity specific extraction and sample decomplexing using continuous flow acoustophoresis’.

Read the rest of issue 10 here

Issue 8 is now available online, and the front cover features a HOT communication from Sungyoung Choi, Jeffrey M. Karp and Rohit Karnik at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. The article demonstrates the group’s use of deterministic cell rolling to sort cells in a label-free, gentle manner.

Cell sorting by deterministic cell rolling
Sungyoung Choi, Jeffrey M. Karp and Rohit Karnik
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21225K

The inside front cover features a HOT paper from Chang Lu and colleagues, which outlines the group’s use of total internal reflection fluorescence flow cytometry (TIRF-FC) to quantitatively measure quantum dot uptake into cells at a single cell level.

Quantitative measurement of quantum dot uptake at the cell population level using microfluidic evanescent-wave-based flow cytometry
Jun Wang, Yihong Zhan, Ning Bao and Chang Lu
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21298F

Other HOT papers in the issue include:

Microfluidics meets soft layer-by-layer films: selective cell growth in 3D polymer architectures
Narayanan Madaboosi, Katja Uhlig, Stephan Schmidt, Magnus S. Jäger, Helmuth Möhwald, Claus Duschl and Dmitry V. Volodkin
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40058H

Gene-Z: a device for point of care genetic testing using a smartphone
Robert D. Stedtfeld, Dieter M. Tourlousse, Gregoire Seyrig, Tiffany M. Stedtfeld, Maggie Kronlein, Scott Price, Farhan Ahmad, Erdogan Gulari, James M. Tiedje and Syed A. Hashsham
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21226A

DNA electrophoresis in a nanofence array
Sung-Gyu Park, Daniel W. Olson and Kevin D. Dorfman
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC00016D

Also in this issue is the ninth instalment of our Acoustofluidics series – this issue’s article focuses on the design, construction and applications of planar resonant devices for acoustic manipulation of particles and cells.

Acoustofluidics 9: Modelling and applications of planar resonant devices for acoustic particle manipulation
Peter Glynne-Jones, Rosemary J. Boltryk and Martyn Hill
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21257A

Finally, this issue sees the start of a new Focus article series from Tony Jun Huang that will discuss bio-related issues that impact on lab on a chip and microfluidic research. The first article focuses on microfluidic devices for diagnostics in the developing world.

Microfluidic diagnostics for the developing world
Xiaole Mao and Tony Jun Huang
DOI:10.1039/C2LC90022J

Read the rest of issue 8 now!

Issue 7 is now available online, and the outside front cover features a HOT article by Aldo Jesorka and colleagues at Chalmers University of Technology, describing their use of a hydrodynamically confined microflow pipette as an optimized non-contact open-volume microfluidic tool, to overcome the common restriction of using closed microchannels.

A multifunctional pipette
Alar Ainla, Gavin D. M. Jeffries, Ralf Brune, Owe Orwar and Aldo Jesorka
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20906C

The inside front cover is a Critical Review by David Beebe et al., discussing the use of PDMS and polystyrene by researchers working at the interface of microfluidics and cell biology research:

Engineers are from PDMS-land, Biologists are from Polystyrenia
Erwin Berthier, Edmond W. K. Young and David Beebe
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20982A

Another HOT article in this issue is by Serge G. Lemay and colleagues at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, reporting on their study of the response time of nanofluidic thin-layer cells as electrochemical sensors, and suggested means of improving that time.

Response time of nanofluidic electrochemical sensors
Shuo Kang, Klaus Mathwig and Serge G. Lemay
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21104A

This issue also features the latest article in our Acoustofluidics series, by Thomas Laurell and colleagues at Lund University, Applications of acoustophoresis in continuous flow microsystems; and our latest Research Highlights from Ali Khademhosseini and colleagues.

Read the rest of Issue 7 here

As usual, all our HOT articles are free to access for four weeks (following a simple registration for individual users).

Issue 6 is now available online, and the outside front cover features a HOT article by Govind Kaigala and colleagues at IBM Research in Zürich on micro-immunohistochemistry (μIHC) using a microfluidic probe to extract more high-quality information from tissue sections for use in drug discovery and clinical pathology.

Micro-immunohistochemistry using a microfluidic probe
Robert D. Lovchik, Govind V. Kaigala, Marios Georgiadis and Emmanuel Delamarche
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21016A

The inside front cover features another HOT article, from Douglas Weibel and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, San Diego, describing very simple, portable microfluidic technology for determining the minimum inhibitory concentration of antibiotics.

A self-loading microfluidic device for determining the minimum inhibitory concentration of antibiotics
Nate J. Cira, Jack Y. Ho, Megan E. Dueck and Douglas B. Weibel
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20887C

The issue also includes the Focus article ‘Standards for collecting microfluidic devices?‘ by Henne van Heeren at enablingMNT, discussing the need for standards for microfluidic interconnections, chip dimensions and a vocabulary, the latest article in our Acoustofluidics series on the acoustic radiation force on small particles by Henrik Bruus at the Technical University of Denmark, and the following HOT articles:

Sorting cells by size, shape and deformability
Jason P. Beech, Stefan H. Holm, Karl Adolfsson and Jonas O. Tegenfeldt
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21083E

A microfluidic method to study demulsification kinetics
Thomas Krebs, Karin Schroen and Remko Boom
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20930F

Design considerations for electrostatic microvalves with applications in poly(dimethylsiloxane)-based microfluidics
Amit V. Desai, Joshua D. Tice, Christopher A. Apblett and Paul J. A. Kenis
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21133E

All our HOT articles are free to access for four weeks (following a simple registration for individual users).

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.