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NMC 2013: 10th International Workshop on Nanomechanical Sensing

25 Apr 2013

The 10^th International Workshop on Nanomechanical Sensing will be taking place from next Wednesday 1^st May until 3^rd May in Stanford, California USA.

This year the workshop is focused on interdisciplinary research on and with nanoscale sensors.

NMC started in 2004 as the “nano mechanical cantilever” meeting but has grown along with innovations in nanomechanics and probing at the nanoscale. NMC focuses on new developments, investigations, applications of cantilever-based sensors, cantilever systems engineering and the mission has expanded to all modes of nanomechanical sensing to include applications such as chemical sensing, biosensing, scanning probes and metrologies, optomechanics, nanomechanics, resonant sensing, and the associated modeling and experiments, etc.

NMC brings together companies and academia to present their latest results in a lively and personal atmosphere. NMC2013 will provide a single session technical program with the latest research on nanosensing including renowned invited speakers, contributed oral and poster presentations, and excellent networking opportunities.

http://www.nmc2013.org/

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Focus writer Tony Huang recognised for outstanding research

25 Mar 2013

Tony Huang, writer of a series of Lab on a Chip Focus review articles, has been awarded a 2013 Faculty Scholar Medal by his institution, Penn State University. This Medal is awarded in recognition of his outstanding research in the area of microfluidic engineering, in particular acoustofluidics. His most recent work on optoacoustic tweezers is available to read in Lab on a Chip:

Optoacoustic tweezers: a programmable, localized cell concentrator based on opto-thermally generated, acoustically activated, surface bubbles
Yuliang Xie, Chenglong Zhao, Yanhui Zhao, Sixing Li, Joseph Rufo, Shikuan Yang, Feng Guo and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC00043E

Tony continues to write a series of varied and fascinating Focus articles published in Lab on a Chip on a regular basis, with topics from the unconventional uses of microfluidic technologies and applications of acoustofluidics through to imaging, circulating tumour cells, diagnostics and mechanical biomarkers:

Unconventional microfluidics: expanding the discipline
Ahmad Ahsan Nawaz, Xiaole Mao, Zackary S. Stratton and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC90023A

Probing circulating tumor cells in microfluidics
Peng Li, Zackary S. Stratton, Ming Dao, Jerome Ritz and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90148J

Optofluidic imaging: now and beyond
Yanhui Zhao, Zackary S. Stratton, Feng Guo, Michael Ian Lapsley, Chung Yu Chan, Sz-Chin Steven Lin and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90127G

Exploiting mechanical biomarkers in microfluidics
Xiaole Mao and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90100E

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LOC Issue 8 now online: Art in Science

19 Mar 2013

The winner of the 2012 Art in Science Award presented at October’s MicroTas meeting was Yi Zhang, from Johns Hopkins University, USA and the striking winning image is featured on the outside front cover of Issue 8!

Read what’s in the issue here

A description of the winning image and advice on what makes a worthy Art in Science submission are discussed in the editorial by Michael Gaitan from NIST, USA, and Harp Minhas, Editor of LOC, who were part of the award selection committee.

The Art in Science of microTAS
Michael Gaitan and Harp Minhas
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC90026F

In keeping with the artistry of the front cover, work from Shoji Takeuchi et al. in Japan is featured on the inside front cover of Issue 8. In this paper, they address the problem of how to exchange the solution within a droplet for a new solution, for example to introduce membrane proteins or to wash-out applied chemicals during ion channel analysis. They use microfluidic channels to carry out solution exchange by droplet contact in under 20 seconds with the membrane still intact. Cover articles are free to access for 6 weeks*!

Droplet-based lipid bilayer system integrated with microfluidic channels for solution exchange
Yutaro Tsuji, Ryuji Kawano, Toshihisa Osaki, Koki Kamiya, Norihisa Miki and Shoji Takeuchi
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC41359D

The back cover features the laboratory of Sergey Shevkoplyas at Tulane University, USA. The communication by this laboratory describes their simple point-of-care test for sickle cell disease using characteristic patterns made by blood samples on paper, which can even differentiate between sickle cell disease and those healthy people with sickle cell traits.

A simple, rapid, low-cost diagnostic test for sickle cell disease
Xiaoxi Yang, Julie Kanter, Nathaniel Z. Piety, Melody S. Benton, Seth M. Vignes and Sergey S. Shevkoplyas
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC41302K

This issue also includes plenty of HOT research and a focus article from Tony Huang on the more unconventional applications of microfluidics:

Unconventional microfluidics: expanding the discipline
Ahmad Ahsan Nawaz, Xiaole Mao, Zackary S. Stratton and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC90023A

Programmable parylene-C bonding layer fluorescence for storing information on microfluidic chips
Ata Tuna Ciftlik, Diego Gabriel Dupouy and Martin A. M. Gijs
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC41280F

Engineering of functional, perfusable 3D microvascular networks on a chip
Sudong Kim, Hyunjae Lee, Minhwan Chung and Noo Li Jeon
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC41320A

In situ synthesis of silver nanoparticle decorated vertical nanowalls in a microfluidic device for ultrasensitive in-channel SERS sensing
Joseph Parisi, Liang Su and Yu Lei
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC41249K

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Webinar: The power of modern HPTLC

12 Mar 2013

Join Chemistry World and Advion for a webcast on the latest developments in HPTLC technology.

WHAT: Professor Morlock from the University of Giessen, Germany, will give an overview of current HPTLC methodology, explore some examples of HPTLC-MS coupling and review other current hyphenations in HPTLC. By the end of this free webinar, you will be able to:
– Recognise the power of modern HPTLC
– Learn about current hyphenations in HPTLC
– Understand the principle of elution-based HPTLC-MS
– Recognise how HPTLC hyphenations efficiently support analyses

WHEN: Wednesday, 20 March 2013 – 15:00 GMT

HOW: Click here to register (free)

Register today, even if you can’t make it on 20^th March, and we’ll send you a link to the recorded webinar.

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Worried about food allergens? There’s an app for that

12 Dec 2012

Building on their work on a mobile phone – or cell phone – app to detect bacteria, US scientists have now adapted the technology to detect allergens in foods.

The iTube platform uses colorimetric assays and a smartphone to reveal the presence of allergens in food samples

The device, developed by Aydogan Ozcan and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, is a compact and lightweight attachment for a mobile phone’s camera unit, which is used to image tubes containing food samples illuminated by light emitting diodes. ‘If there is an allergen in the sample, the transmitted light intensity changes,’ says Ozcan. ‘By quantifying the transmitted light intensity using a smart application on the phone, we can quantify the amount of allergen in the sample in parts per million.’

To read the full article, visit Chemistry World.

A personalized food allergen testing platform on a cellphone
Ahmet Coskun, Justin Wong, Delaram Khodadadi, Richie Nagi, Andrew Tey and Aydogan Ozcan
Lab Chip, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC41152K

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Lab on a Chip gives prestigious awards at µTAS 2012

20 Nov 2012

This year’s MicroTAS conference was held in October, at the Okinawa Convention Center in Okinawa, Japan.

As in previous years, Harp Minhas, Editor of Lab on a Chip, was in attendance at the conference to announce the prestigious Lab on a Chip awards, which include the Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship (supported by Corning Inc), the Widmer Young Researcher Poster Prize, and the Art in Science Award (co-sponsored by NIST).

The Widmer Young Researcher Poster Prize

This year’s winner of the Widmer Young Researcher Poster Prize was Klaus Eyer from Professor Petra Dittrich’s lab at ETH Zürich, with his poster entitled ‘Single Cell ELISA’.

Left to right: David Juncker (Poster award chair), Klaus Eyer (winner), Harp Minhas (Lab on a Chip)

Art in Science Award

The Art in Science Award is given each year “to draw attention to the aesthetic value in scientific illustrations while still conveying scientific merit.” This year’s award was presented to Yi Zhang, a PhD student from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA.

Left to right: Michael Gaitan (NIST), Yi Zhang (winner), Harp Minhas (Lab on a Chip)

The image, entitled ‘Stretching the Rainbow‘, shows a droplet with multiple rainbow stripes being stretched by the magnetic particle on a surface energy traps (SETs)-enabled magnetic digital microfluidic platform. In this particular scenario, the droplet is immobilized by the SET while the magnetic particles are trying to split from the droplet. The rainbow is the natural colour resulting from the diffraction pattern caused by a DVD disc, on which the droplet sits.

Stretching the Rainbow

Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship

The Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship recognises outstanding achievements and significant contributions to the understanding and advancement of micro- and nano-scale science. This year, the Lectureship was awarded to Professor Andrew deMello at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Among his many achievements and awards, Andrew first demonstrated combinatorial chemistry and controlled nanoparticle synthesis in continuous flow microfluidic devices; co-authored the first demonstration of continuous flow PCR, which has over 750 citations to date; pioneered the application of high-contract fluorescence lifetime imaging to microfluidic environments; founded Molecular Vision Ltd, an in vitro diagnostic company, providing point of care tests for cardiovascular and kidney disease; and has published over 40 articles on droplet-based microfluidics since 2007.

Left to right: Harp Minhas (Lab on a Chip), Andrew deMello (winner), Po Ki Yuen (Corning Inc)

Please join us at Lab on a Chip in congratulating all of our prize winners!

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Idea featured in Lab on a Chip article to benefit from the RSC’s support of Marblar

13 Nov 2012

The RSC has teamed up with an Oxford University spin-out to sponsor six challenges on Marblar – a radical new online platform for finding applications for unused scientific discoveries.

More than 95% of technologies developed in universities never make it to market, leaving publicly or philanthropy-funded research collecting dust on the shelf. Often, given that academic research can be so ahead of its time, the commercial relevance of these technologies isn’t immediately obvious.

Marblar aims to remove this bottleneck by crowdsourcing ideas for real-world applications from the global science and technology community, with the ultimate goal to create new products and new companies that will drive job creation around these innovative discoveries.

An idea from one Lab on a Chip article – SlipChip – has been chosen as one of the RSC sponsored challenges.

SlipChip is a low-cost microfluidic device that uses only two pieces of plastic or glass to enable the user to perform multiple small-scale chemical reactions simply and precisely. By simply ‘slipping’ the glass or plastic ‘chips’ across each other, a number of reactions can be carried out in nanoscale volumes in parallel.

SlipChip was developed at the University of Chicago by Professor Rustem Ismagilov and his then graduate student, Feng Shen. They’ve since created a spinout company called SlipChip based on this technology and Ismagilov has continued his work at the California Institute of Technology. Given the technology’s ability to precisely manipulate reactions in a programmable way, they see applications in multiple fields. Through Marblar, they hope to find ideas beyond their discipline that can exploit SlipChip’s ability to ‘count molecules’, as well as new capabilities for the technology.

Visit the Marblar website to get involved, or read the Lab on a Chip article below:

Digital PCR on a SlipChip
Feng Shen, Wenbin Du, Jason E. Kreutz, Alice Fok and Rustem F. Ismagilov
DOI: 10.1039/C004521G

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Issue 22 – Focus on Scandinavia

30 Oct 2012

Issue 22 of Lab on a Chip features work from Scandinavia – read the editorial from the Guest Editors Professors Thomas Laurell and Jörg Kutter here. The issue features 8 articles from Scandinavian authors, and profiles of the athours included can be found here.

The front cover features work from Jörg Kutter and co-workers at the Technical University of Denmark, reporting on the optical properties of gold nanoparticle probes, used as sensors for environmental contaminants.

Gold nanoparticle-based optical microfluidic sensors for analysis of environmental pollutants
Josiane P. Lafleur, Silja Senkbeil, Thomas G. Jensen and Jörg P. Kutter
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40543A

Artwork linked to research from Vincent Aimez and colleagues from the Université de Sherbrooke can be seen on the inside front cover of the issue – they have developed a microfluidic device to monitor the radioactivity concentration in the blood of rats and mice in real time.

Blood compatible microfluidic system for pharmacokinetic studies in small animals
Laurence Convert, Frédérique Girard Baril, Vincent Boisselle, Jean-François Pratte, Réjean Fontaine, Roger Lecomte, Paul G. Charette and Vincent Aimez
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40550D

The back cover of the issue features work from Samir Iqbal and co-workers at the University of Texas and Lehigh University. The team designed a Hele-Shaw device with aptamer functionalized glass beads to isolate cancer cells from a cellular mixture.

Capture, isolation and release of cancer cells with aptamer-functionalized glass bead array
Yuan Wan, Yaling Liu, Peter B. Allen, Waseem Asghar, M. Arif Iftakher Mahmood, Jifu Tan, Holli Duhon, Young-tae Kim, Andrew D. Ellington and Samir M. Iqbal
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21251J

Other HOT papers in the issue include:

Two-hundredfold volume concentration of dilute cell and particle suspensions using chip integrated multistage acoustophoresis
Maria Nordin and Thomas Laurell
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40629B

Inertial microfluidics in parallel channels for high-throughput applications
Jonas Hansson, J. Mikael Karlsson, Tommy Haraldsson, Hjalmar Brismar, W. van der Wijngaart and Aman Russom
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40241F

Low cost integration of 3D-electrode structures into microfluidic devices by replica molding
Benjamin Mustin and Boris Stoeber
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40728K

A microfluidic device with removable packaging for the real time visualisation of intracellular effects of nanosecond electrical pulses on adherent cells
C. Dalmay, M. A. De Menorval, O. Français, L. M. Mir and B. Le Pioufle
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40857K

Programmable microfluidic synthesis of spectrally encoded microspheres
R. E. Gerver, R. Gómez-Sjöberg, B. C. Baxter, K. S. Thorn, P. M. Fordyce, C. A. Diaz-Botia, B. A. Helms and J. L. DeRisi
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40699C

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Lab on a Chip Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

NMC 2013: 10th International Workshop on Nanomechanical Sensing

Top ten most accessed LOC articles in January 2013

Focus writer Tony Huang recognised for outstanding research

LOC Issue 8 now online: Art in Science

Webinar: The power of modern HPTLC

Worried about food allergens? There’s an app for that

Top ten most accessed articles in August 2012

Lab on a Chip gives prestigious awards at µTAS 2012

Idea featured in Lab on a Chip article to benefit from the RSC’s support of Marblar

Issue 22 – Focus on Scandinavia

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