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Ferrofluids help you see better

23 Dec 2010

US researchers have used ferrofluids as liquid pistons that could be used to make adjustable liquid lenses with nearly perfect spherical interfaces for applications such as an optometrist’s phoropter. A phoropter measures the way light is focused in the eye and is used to determine prescriptions for glasses and contact lenses.

Ferrofluids are colloidal solutions of ferromagnetic nanoparticles suspended in a dispersing liquid. Ferrofluid droplets can be manipulated by a magnetic field, so they could be used in systems that need precise control, such as optics, drug delivery, and electronic devices.

Amir Hirsa and colleagues from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, have made such a device by filling three of four holes in a substrate with ferrofluid; the ferrofluid’s surface tension allows droplets to protrude from either side of the substrate. They filled the fourth hole with 1-methylnaphthalene, a compound used as a liquid lens. They sealed the system and filled it with water, producing two chambers, with the substrate as the separator and the ferrofluid and 1-methylnaphthalene being the only connections between them.

As a magnetic field was applied to the device, the ferrofluid moved further into one chamber, pushing the 1-methylnaphthalene liquid lens and changing its curvature

Read the full story here

Link to journal article
Electromagnetic liquid pistons for capillarity-based pumping
Bernard A. Malouin Jr, Michael J. Vogel, Joseph D. Olles, Lili Cheng and Amir H. Hirsa,
Lab Chip, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c0lc00397b

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Stephen Quake wins Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship

15 Dec 2010

Congratulations to Professor Steve Quake from Stanford University who is the 2010 winner of the Lab on a Chip/Corning Inc. Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship.

The prize was presented during the uTAS meeting held in Groningen, Netherlands this year. It is awarded annually to an early to mid-career scientist for extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturised systems and includes a prize of $5000 ($2000 of which may be used to attend the µTAS Symposium).

Professor Quake’s research interests include biological automation tools, microfluidic large scale integration (demonstrating the first devices with thousands of integrated mechanical valves), single molecule DNA sequencing and much more.

Take a look at the webpage for more details about the prize jointly sponsored by Corning Inc.

View the photos and further information from about the 2010 uTAS meeting in Gronongen.

Read Steve Quake’s recent article in Lab on a Chip with reference to ‘biotic games’

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Lung implant is a breath of fresh air

14 Dec 2010

Artificial lung technology could reduce the death rate for patients awaiting a lung transplant, say US scientists.

Advanced lung disease is characterised by an inability to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and reduced oxygen uptake efficiency. A shortage of donors can mean long delays and high mortality rates for those awaiting a transplant. The only technology available to aid sufferers during this time is based in intensive care units, hindering quality of life.

Now, Joseph Vacanti and coworkers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, have developed a device that achieves the CO2/O2 gas exchange that, when implanted in the body, could allow patients more freedom when awaiting a transplant. Their design is a microfluidic branched vascular network through which blood flows, separated from a gas-filled chamber by a silicone membrane less than 10um thick. The network is formed by casting polydimethylsiloxane, a biocompatible polymer, on a micro machined mould.

A device that achieves carbon dioxide/oxygen gas exchange could allow patients more freedom when awaiting a lung transplant

Read the full story here

Link to journal article
Lung assist device technology with physiologic blood flow developed on a tissue engineered scaffold platform
David M. Hoganson, Howard I. Pryor II, Erik K. Bassett, Ira D. Spool and Joseph P. Vacanti, Lab Chip, 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c0lc00158a

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Shrink Nanotechnologies/Corning collaboration

08 Dec 2010

A recent agreement between Shrink Nanotechnologies and Corning now means Shrink will be able to offer Corning’s complete SmartBuild Plug-n-Play Modular Microfluidic System to researchers. This system enables the building of larger lab-on-a-chip devices by connecting multiple components together and was developed by Corning’s Po Ki Yuen and colleagues.

Shrink Nanotechnologies was founded by Michelle Khine. With fellow colleagues at the University of California she devized the ‘shrinky-dink’ technology for production of custom microfluidic devices in minutes.

Read a fuller account of the Shrink/Corning collaboration and take a look at the Lab on a Chip articles featuring the ‘Shrinky-dink’ technology and the plug-n-play modular microfluidics system.

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New YouTube Videos

06 Dec 2010

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

Compressed-air flow control system

Novel combination of hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface for large wettability difference and its application to liquid manipulation

Electromagnetic liquid pistons for capillarity-based pumping

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Lab on a Chip Chair Wins Cotton Medal

01 Dec 2010

Lab on a Chip Editorial Board Chair, George Whitesides, will recieve the prestigious
2011 F. A. Cotton Medal at a ceremony at Texas A&M University in April next year.

Professor Whitesides is the Woodford L. & Ann A. Flowers University Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University whose broad research interests range from affordable health diagnostics for the developing world to probing the mysteries of the origin of life. The Cotton Medal, awarded for excellence in chemical research, is in memory of the late F. Albert Cotton, Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M, and has been awarded annually since 1995.

Read Professor Whitesides recent Editorial in Lab on a Chip on ‘Solving problems’.

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Medicine gets smart

26 Nov 2010

Korean scientists have developed a fast and simple mobile phone-based device to test urine samples for common diseases in developing countries. This could provide a cheap, painless solution for detecting disease in remote areas.

Dae-Sik Lee at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and colleagues developed a pocket-sized urinalysis colorimetric reader capable of sending data wirelessly via a smart phone. To take urine samples, the team used a commercially available 10-parameter urinalysis paper strip that detects glucose, protein, bilirubin, urobilinogen, ketones, nitrite, pH, specific gravity, erythrocytes and leukocytes.

Lee’s team tested the device on 1000 human urine samples and the results were comparable with those given by hospital equipment, demonstrating reliable glucose and protein analysis. It uses a colorimetric multidetection diode comprising LEDs, photodiodes and an optical splitter, which reads the colour intensity changes on the paper strips.

In remote areas of the developing world early detection and prevention of disease is rare. Portable lab on a chip devices have been developed to help combat this but many are not up to the standards required for use in such environments, as they are often expensive with high power consumption and take a long time to produce results, whereas Lee’s device can produce readings within six seconds.

The simple and easy to use handheld device could prove vital for patients in remote areas of the developing world

Read the full story here

Link to journal article
A simple and smart telemedicine device for developing regions: a pocket-sized colorimetric reader
Dae-Sik Lee, Byoung Goo Jeon, Chunhwa Ihm, Je-Kyun Park and Mun Yeon Jung, Lab Chip, 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c0lc00209g

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Lab on a Chip Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Top ten most accessed articles in December

Top ten most accessed articles in November

Ferrofluids help you see better

Stephen Quake wins Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship

Lung implant is a breath of fresh air

Shrink Nanotechnologies/Corning collaboration

New YouTube Videos

Top ten most accessed articles in October

Lab on a Chip Chair Wins Cotton Medal

Medicine gets smart

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