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Lab on a Chip Issue 6 now online

02 Mar 2011

In this issue Michael Gaitan and Laurie Locascio introduce the 3rd annual μTAS Art in Science award, sponsored by Lab on a Chip and presented in October 2010 to Nicholas Gunn from the University of California, Irvine.

Nicholas Gunn’s winning image, entitled Cell Block 9, can be seen on the front cover of Issue 6.

The issue also features a highly recommended Critical Review from David Erickson at Cornell University on nanoscale manipulation techniques using near field photonics technology, a Communication on high speed droplet formation in microfluidic channels from Sung-Yong Park and Pei-Yu Chiou at UCLA.

HOT papers in this issue:

Nanomanipulation using near field photonics
David Erickson, Xavier Serey, Yih-Fan Chen and Sudeep Mandal
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 995-1009
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00482K, Critical Review

High-speed droplet generation on demand driven by pulse laser-induced cavitation
Sung-Yong Park, Ting-Hsiang Wu, Yue Chen, Michael A. Teitell and Pei-Yu Chiou
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 1010-1012
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00555J, Communication

Towards a fast, high specific and reliable discrimination of bacteria on strain level by means of SERS in a microfluidic device
Angela Walter, Anne März, Wilm Schumacher, Petra Rösch and Jürgen Popp
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 1013-1021
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00536C

A ‘microfluidic pinball’ for on-chip generation of Layer-by-Layer polyelectrolyte microcapsules
Chaitanya Kantak, Sebastian Beyer, Levent Yobas, Tushar Bansal and Dieter Trau
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 1030-1035
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00381F

A polyacrylamide microbead-integrated chip for the large-scale manufacture of ready-to-use esiRNA
Huang Huang, Qing Chang, Changhong Sun, Shenyi Yin, Juan Li and Jianzhong Jeff Xi
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 1036-1040
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00564A

Integrated DNA purification, PCR, sample cleanup, and capillary electrophoresis microchip for forensic human identification
Peng Liu, Xiujun Li, Susan A. Greenspoon, James R. Scherer and Richard A. Mathies
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 1041-1048
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00533A

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microTAS 2010 abstracts now available for free online!

24 Feb 2011

Thanks to the Chemical and Biological Miniaturisation Society (CBMS) Lab on a Chip is pleased to offer free access to the microTAS abstracts from the 2010 conference in Groningen, The Netherlands.

The microTAS meeting abstracts from 2003-2010 can be found on our website here as click-through pdf files.

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Liquid metal electrodes in microfluidic devices

23 Feb 2011

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a faster, easier way to create microelectrodes, for use in microfluidic devices, by using liquid metal.

Read the full article by Ju-Hee So and Michael Dickey in the latest issue of Lab on a Chip here.

And why not check out some of the other articles in the same issue?

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New YouTube Videos for February

23 Feb 2011

View the new videos on the Lab on a Chip YouTube site using the links below:

Magnetically-actuated artificial cilia for microfluidic propulsion

Separation of parasites from human blood using deterministic lateral displacement

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Lab on a Chip Issue 5 now online – focus on French research

17 Feb 2011

LOC is pleased to bring you the next instalment in our 10th anniversary themed issues – this edition focusses on French research.

The issue includes an excellent range of articles from fundamental studies to developments in biology-inspired physics and micro/nanotechnologies. Contributors to the issue include Charles Baroud, Stephanie Descroix, Anne-Marie Haghiri-Gosnet, Benoit Ladoux, Emmanuel Mignard, Patrick Tabeling and Jean-Louis Viovy.

Jean-Louis Viovy was our Guest Editor for the issue, read his thoughts on the progress of microfluidics in France in his editorial here, view the great content online here and let us know what you think!

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Lab on a Chip is tweeting!

17 Feb 2011

Lab on a Chip is now on Twitter – you can follow us at http://twitter.com/LabonaChip and tweet @LabonaChip

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Thirty minute flu gene detector

15 Feb 2011

Scientists in Japan have developed a portable influenza testing kit with better accuracy than current methods, which can give a result in 30 minutes.

Scientists from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Sony Corporation made a nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) device that not only gives information on the sample’s genetic make up to identify the flu pathogen type, but is also more than 90 per cent accurate. The device works by detecting the genes of the influenza virus pathogen – an organism that causes the disease – which gives information about the virus subtype and drug resistance.

Current rapid diagnostic kits to detect the flu virus suffer from low accuracy (40-69 per cent) and don’t provide genetic information about the sample. One NAT in use to test clinical specimens is real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, which involves amplifying, detecting and quantifying DNA sequences. It does give genetic information, but it consists of a complex procedure and takes 3-4 hours to produce results.

Sony’s detection system comprises: a laptop to control the system; a device for heating samples and detecting fluorescence; and disposable testing chips. The chips contain reaction wells made of polydimethylsiloxane sandwiched between two glass sheets in a vacuum chamber. Samples are injected into the wells through a port by a disposable injector, eliminating the need for pumps and tubing.

The detection system comprises: a laptop to control the system; a device for heating samples and detecting fluorescence; and disposable testing chips

Read the full article here

Link to journal article
Point-of-care testing system enabling 30 min detection of influenza genes
Tomoteru Abe, Yuji Segawa, Hidetoshi Watanabe, Tasuku Yotoriyama, Shinichi Kai, Akio Yasuda, Norio Shimizu and Naoko Tojo,
Lab Chip, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c0lc00519c

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New YouTube Videos

07 Feb 2011

View the new videos on the Lab on a Chip YouTube site using the links below:

3-Dimensional cell culture for on-chip differentiation of stem cells in embryoid body

Electrokinetic gated injection-based microfluidic system for quantitative analysis of hydrogen peroxide in individual HepG2 cells

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Chips make short work of RNA synthesis

03 Feb 2011

Chinese scientists have developed a much easier way to make the short strands of RNA that are an essential tool in understanding what genes do.

Short interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs) were first discovered in 1999, and found to interfere with the expression of specific genes, giving them a key role in controlling the molecular machinery in living organisms. Though initially identified in plants, they were later found in animals too, and this spurred an interest in using them as tools to investigate what specific genes do in the body.

One type of siRNAs, endoribonuclease-prepared siRNAs (esiRNAs), has recently attracted attention because of their greater specificity and their cost effectiveness. Jianzhong Xi and colleagues at Peking University have now demonstrated a lab on a chip method that makes large scale manufacture of esiRNAs much easier.

The chip consists of 96 pins. Each pin has a polymer bead at its end in which a number of DNA probes are immobilised, allowing hundreds of esiRNA products to be manipulated at the same time.

Read Catherine Bacon’s Chemistry World article online here or go straight to the HOT Lab on a Chip paper:

A polyacrylamide microbead-integrated chip for the large-scale manufacture of ready-to-use esiRNA
Huang Huang, Qing Chang, Changhong Sun, Shenyi Yin, Juan Li and Jianzhong Jeff Xi
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00564A

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LOC Issue 4 now available online!

02 Feb 2011

LOC issue 4 is now available to view online here.

The cover articles by Volkert van Steijn (Delft University of Technology) and Shuichi Takayama (University of Michigan) on monodisperse hydrogel microspheres and cell death & detachment in a microfluidic alveolar model, respectively, are both free to access for 6 weeks.

The issue also features a tutorial review by Mazher-Iqbal Mohammed and Marc Desmulliez (Heriot-Watt University) on miniature biosensor technologies for cardiac biomarkers and a host of HOT papers.

Monodisperse hydrogel microspheres by forced droplet formation in aqueous two-phase systems
Iwona Ziemecka, Volkert van Steijn, Ger J. M. Koper, Michel Rosso, Aurelie M. Brizard, Jan H. van Esch and Michiel T. Kreutzer
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 620-624
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00375A

Combination of fluid and solid mechanical stresses contribute to cell death and detachment in a microfluidic alveolar model

Nicholas J. Douville, Parsa Zamankhan, Yi-Chung Tung, Ran Li, Benjamin L. Vaughan, Cheng-Feng Tai, Joshua White, Paul J. Christensen, James B. Grotberg and Shuichi Takayama
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 609-619
DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00251H

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