Lab on a Chip Blog

We are delighted to welcome:

• Professor Xingyu Jiang (SUSTech, China)
• Professor Amy Herr (UC Berkeley, USA)
• Professor Hongkai Wu (HKUST, Hong Kong)

as our newest Lab on a Chip Associate Editors! You can read more about them and their research focus below.

Amy Herr

John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Professor, Department of Bioengineering, 

University of California,  Berkeley, USA

Amy Herr is the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Professor in the Department of Bioengineering , a Chan Zuckerberg (CZ) Biohub Investigator, and CTO of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network.

A major focus of the Herr lab is engineering innovation for analysis of complex biological systems — as is required to address questions important to both fundamental biological systems and applied clinical research. They employ a combination of approaches drawn from chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering with strong foundations in biology, materials science, and analytical chemistry.  In essence, they strive to advance the “mathematization” of biology & medicine.  Their research projects span understanding fundamental transport to materials design to applications in life sciences tools and diagnostics.

Professor Herr’s research has been recognized by prominent international andnational organizations, including: 2018 Sciex Microscale Separations Innovation Medal, 2017 Georgina Sweet Lectureship from the Australian Research Council, 2016 Mid-career Achievement Award from the American Electrophoresis Society, 2015 Georges Guiochon Faculty Fellow from HPLC, 2012 Young Innovator Award from Analytical Chemistry/CBMS, 2011 NSF CAREER award, 2010 NIH New Innovator Award, 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in chemistry, 2010 New Investigator Award in Analytical Chemistry from Eli Lilly & Co., and a 2009 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award. Her commitment to creating a strong professional community is reflected in recognition as: 2019 Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring, Visiting Scientist & Posdoc. Assoc. at UC Berkeley, 2017 Berkeley Visionary Award from the City of Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, and 2007 Outstanding Mentor Award from Sandia National Labs.

Research Expertise and Interest
microfluidics, bioanalytical separations, diagnostics, electrokinetic transport, engineering design

Find out more on the Herr Lab website – Bioinstrumentation for Quantitative Biology & Medicine

Here are a selection of Amy’s most recent Lab on a Chip papers below:

• • • Multimodal detection of protein isoforms and nucleic acids from low starting cell numbers
    • Separation-encoded microparticles for single-cell western blotting
    • Mouse-to-mouse variation in maturation heterogeneity of smooth muscle cells

Xingyu Jiang

Chair Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering                                                                                                                                                                         Southern University of Science and Technology, China

Xingyu Jiang is a Chair Professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. He obtained his BS at the University of Chicago (1999) and PhD at Harvard University (Chemistry, 2004). In 2005, he joined the National Center for NanoScience and Technology/the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He moved to the Southern University of Science and Technology in 2018. His research interests include microfluidics and nanomedicine and their applications in diagnostics, screening for therapeutics, as well as engineered tissues. He has over 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He was awarded the “Hundred Talents Plan” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation of China’s Distinguished Young Scholars Award, the Scopus Young Researcher Gold Award, and the Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Xingyu has been a committed member of the Lab on a Chip Editorial Board since 2020, and will now start handling papers for the journal.

Research Expertise and Interest
microfluidics & nanomedicine, and their applications in diagnostics, screening for therapeutics,  engineered tissues

Find out more on the Jiang lab website and follow @xingyu on Twitter

Here are a selection of Xingyu’s most recent Lab on a Chip papers below:

• • • Microfluidic on-chip valve and pump for applications in immunoassays
    • Wearable chem-biosensing devices: from basic research to commercial market
    • Hierarchically structured microchip for point-of-care immunoassays with dynamic detection ranges

Hongkai Wu

Professor,  Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

Hongkai Wu is a Professor in Department of Chemistry & Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China. Dr. Wu received his BSc from University of Science and Technology of China in 1995 and Ph.D from Harvard University, USA in 2002. After working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, he joined the faculty in Department of Chemistry in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2005 and moved to HKUST as an Assistant Professor in 2007. In 2012, he was promoted to be an Associate Professor. From 2009 to 2015, he established a satellite laboratory in Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, focusing on developing functional biomaterials.

Research at the Wu lab focuses on the interdisciplinary frontiers of microfluidics, bioanalytical science and materials chemistry. They use the technologies in MEMS, microfluidics, soft lithography, and surface chemistry to design and provide new tools for the applications and understanding of fundamentals in materials and biological sciences, including microfluidic chemical reactors, high throughput single-cell analysis and chemical separations.

Research Expertise and Interest
microfluidics, bioanalytical science, materials chemistry, single-cell analysis

Find out more on the Wu lab website 

Here are a selection of Hongkai’s Lab on a Chip papers below:

• • • A high-throughput, open-space and reusable microfluidic chip for combinational drug screening on tumor spheroids
    • Cell pairing and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated cell fusion using two-step centrifugation-assisted single-cell trapping (CAScT)
    • Point-of-care testing: applications of 3D printing

Please join us in welcoming our new Associate Editors. We look forward to continuing to work with them on Lab on a Chip, and they are looking forward to handling your papers!

Submit your paper today!

The founding Editor of Lab on a Chip and pioneer of the µTAS field, Professor Andreas Manz, has announced his retirement. In celebration of all his works and achievements, we have collated a video from his friends and colleagues across the lab on a chip community. 

Watch the video ⬇️

We have created a retrospective collection across the past 2 decades since Lab on a Chip’s inception, of his work published in the journal, which can be found here:

Andreas Manz Special Collection

In addition, we will be honouring Andreas with a special Lab on a Chip collection with invited papers from his networks throughout his career, for publication next year. Keep an eye on our Twitter for more details

Please join us in congratulating Andreas on his retirement, and we thank him for all his vital contributions to the journal, the field and the community!

We are delighted to welcome Professor Jean-Christophe Baret as an Associate Editor for Lab on a Chip!

Jean-Christophe Baret

University of Bordeaux , France

JC Baret is Professor at the University of Bordeaux and member of the Institut Universitaire de France. He obtained his PhD from the University of Twente (NL) in 2005 and joined the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (Univ Strasbourg) as a post-doc and then the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Goettingen as a Max Planck Group Leader.

His laboratory is now located at the CNRS Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal where he develops research activities centered on microfluidics for applications in biochemistry, high-throughput screening and more recently for the bottom-up assembly of artificial cells. He is founder and scientific advisor of Emulseo developing industrial formulations for microfluidics.

Find out more on the his group website and follow @BaretJc on Twitter

Submit your work to Jean-Christophe today!

Transform microfluidics industry with your research

Dolomite Microfluidic Competition 2022 is a competition for all researchers, students who are working or studying on microfluidics projects across the globe. We know scientists around the world may have many great ideas, but don’t have enough resources for their projects. Therefore, Dolomite Microfluidics would like to organize this competition to bring your ideas to the world and make them come true. – 

Prize

• 1^st Prize:  A virtual voucher to purchase Dolomite Microfluidics products up to a maximum value of USD 6000 (including shipping fee)
• 2^nd Prize:  A virtual voucher to purchase Dolomite Microfluidics products up to a maximum value of USD 2500 (including shipping fee)

The Dolomite Applications team will suggest of the most suitable products for the winner to benefit from in their project based only on the products produced and available on Dolomite Microfluidic Webshop.

Entry period

00:01 am GMT +7 on September 12, 2022 and ends at 11:59 pm GMT +7 on October 31, 2022

How to submit?

Visit the Dolomite Scientific Competition to learn more about the competition, how to submit, and FAQS

Dolomite Scientific Competition 2022_Terms Conditions

Lab on a Chip is very pleased to be sponsoring and attending Acoustofluidics 2022, taking place 19-21 October 2022 in Glasgow, Scotland.

This focused meeting is dedicated to exploring the science, engineering, and use of micro- to nanoscale Acoustofluidics.

Announced Keynote Speakers
David Weitz (Harvard Univ.)
Bruce Drinkwater (Univ. of Bristol)
Jürg Dual (ETH Zürich)
Eleanor Stride (Univ. of Oxford)

In particular, the scope of the conference includes but is not limited to:

1. Devices

• Transducer Fabrication
• Integrated System
• Lab-on-a-Chip
• Thin Film and Flexible Acoustofluidics
• Theory and/or Simulation
• Other

2. Applications

• Environment
• Biology
• Medicine
• Energy
• Theory and/or Simulation
• Other

3. Manipulation, Transport and Control

• Acoustic Manipulation
• Liquid Transport, Jetting and Nebulisation
• Bubble and Cavity Acoustics
• Control Schemes
• Theory and/or Simulation
• Other

4. Physics

• New Phenomena and Mechanisms
• Acoustic Fields and Streaming
• Acoustic Thermal Effects and Energy
• Fluid-Structure Interactions
• Theory and/or Simulation
• Other

Abstract Deadline
Sunday, 31 July 2022

Find out more and register at acoustofluidics.net

We are delighted to welcome Professors Keisuke Goda, Sindy Tang & Yi-Chin Toh to the Lab on a Chip Advisory Board.

Keisuke Goda

Professor, Department of Chemistry

University of Tokyo, Japan

Keisuke Goda is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo, an adjunct professor in the Institute of Technological Sciences at Wuhan University, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Bioengineering at UCLA. He obtained his B.A. from UC Berkeley summa cum laude in 2001 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 2007, both in physics. At MIT, he worked on the development of gravitational-wave detectors in the LIGO group which led to the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. After several years of work on high-speed imaging and microfluidics at Caltech and UCLA, he joined the University of Tokyo as a professor. His research group focuses on the development of serendipity-enabling technologies based on molecular imaging and spectroscopy together with microfluidics and computational analytics to push the frontier of science. He currently leads Serendipity Lab, a global network of scientists who aim to realize Louis Pasteur’s statement “Chance favours the prepared mind”. He has published >300 papers, filed >30 patents, and received numerous awards and honours such as Japan Academy Medal and JSPS Prize. He is a fellow of RSC and SPIE.

Keisuke was the recipient of the Lab on a Chip & Dolomite Pioneers of Miniaturization Lectureship Award 2021, and is a Thought Leader for our on-going AI in Microfluidics thematic collection.

Find out more on the GODA LAB website and follow @ut_godalab on Twitter

Here are a selection of Keisuke’s Lab on a Chip papers below:

• Deep imaging flow cytometry
• Are droplets really suitable for single-cell analysis? A case study on yeast in droplets
• AI on a chip

Sindy Tang

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and by courtesy of Radiology (Precision Health and Integrated Diagnostics)

Stanford University, USA

Sindy KY Tang is the Kenneth and Barbara Oshman Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and by courtesy of Radiology (Precision Health and Integrated Diagnostics) at Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in Engineering Sciences under the supervision of Prof. George Whitesides. Her lab at Stanford works on the fundamental understanding of fluid mechanics and mass transport in micro-nano systems, and the application of this knowledge towards problems in biology, rapid diagnostics for health and environmental sustainability. The current areas of focus include the flow physics of confined micro-droplets using experimental and machine learning methods, interfacial mass transport and self-assembly, and ultrahigh throughput opto-microfluidic systems for disease diagnostics, water and energy sustainability, and single-cell wound healing studies. She was a Stanford Biodesign Faculty Fellow in 2018. Dr. Tang’s work has been recognized by multiple awards including the NSF CAREER Award, 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, the ACS Petroleum Fund New Investigator Award, and invited lecture at the Nobel Symposium on Microfluidics in Sweden.

Sindy has been a committed member of the Lab on a Chip 2022 Commissioning Panel

Find out more on the Tang Lab website and follow @TangSindy on Twitter

Here are a selection of Sindy’s Lab on a Chip papers below:

• Exponential magnetophoretic gradient for the direct isolation of basophils from whole blood in a microfluidic system
• Confinement and viscosity ratio effect on droplet break-up in a concentrated emulsion flowing through a narrow constriction
• Optofluidic ultrahigh-throughput detection of fluorescent drops

Yi-Chin Toh

Associate Professor, School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering,  

Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Yi-Chin Toh is a Future Fellow and Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. She obtained her B.Eng in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D in Bioengineering from the National University of Singapore in 2001 and 2008 respectively. She did her post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008 under Professor Joel Voldman’s guidance. Before joining QUT, she led an independent research group as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore.

Her research interest is in engineering multi-scale tissue models to mimic complex biological interactions during human development and diseases, as well as translating them into scalable platforms for disease modeling and drug testing applications. Dr Toh is a recipient of the Australia Research Council Future Fellowship, National University of Singapore Research Scholarship, A*STAR Graduate Scholarship and A*STAR International Fellowship.

Yi-Chin has been a committed member of the Lab on a Chip 2022 Commissioning Panel

Find out more on the MicroTE Lab website and follow @MicroTElab on Twitter

Here are a selection of Yi-Chin’s Lab on a Chip papers below:

• Integration of a microfluidic multicellular coculture array with machine learning analysis to predict adverse cutaneous drug reactions
• Self-aligning Tetris-Like (TILE) modular microfluidic platform for mimicking multi-organ interactions
• A liver-immune coculture array for predicting systemic drug-induced skin sensitization

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board members and we look forward to continuing to work with them on Lab on a Chip!

Lab on a Chip is delighted to be sponsoring the EMBL Microfluidics Conference (11-13 July), bringing together top researchers and emerging research leaders to spark scientific exchange and create community. Topics spanning from fundamental physics & chemistry to device design and nascent biological applications will be presented, which should be of interest to everyone from experts in microfluidic design to users of the next-generation of microfluidic tools, and from academic scholars and trainees to industry colleagues.

Session Topics

• Probing biology
• Next-generation device design and emerging applications
• Disease diagnostics, analytical chemistry and chemical synthesis
• Single-cell and single-molecule analyses

Featured amongst the speaker list is Associate Editor Yoon-Kyoung Cho, & Commissioning Panel member Yi-Chin Toh!

Find out more about the conference:

Date: 11 – 13 Jul 2022

Location: EMBL Heidelberg and Virtual

Deadline(s):

Abstract submission: 19 Apr 2022

Registration (On-site): 9 May 2022

Registration (Virtual): 4 Jul 2022

The hybrid µTAS 2021 meeting was held from 10-14th October, chaired by Amy Herr & Joel Voldman. We’d like to thank all those who entered the awards this year, and to the judging panels who helped us select the winners. All three prizes received excellent submissions and we’re delighted to announce the winners below.

Lab on a Chip/Dolomite Pioneers of Miniaturization Lectureship

Professor Keisuke Goda (University of Tokyo, Japan), has been awarded the 16th Pioneers of Miniaturization Lectureship, sponsored by Dolomite and Lab on a Chip. The Pioneers of Miniaturization Lectureship rewards early to mid-career scientists who have made extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturised systems.
Like previous years, Professor Goda will receive a monetary award, certificate and plaque, and gave a stunning talk during the µTAS 2021 conference: “a love story of imaging and microfluidics”.

Art in Science Competition
In collaboration with Greg Cooksey from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), we were pleased to present the Art in Science award:

“Living Impression Sunrise” by Yang Du (Fudan University, China)

An fluorescent image of tumor pre-metastatic perivascular niche. 3D microvessels networks formed by self-assembly of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells interacted with tumor organoids in this microfluidic chip. The title of this image is inspired by Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise.

Widmer Poster Prize
The Widmer Poster Prize was awarded this year to Sohyung Lee (UCLA, USA), for her poster and video presentation on “Scalable fabrication of 3D structured microparticles using induced phase separation”. Sohyung put a huge amount of time and effort into her presentation, and the judges were very impressed.

Congratulations to all the winners at this year’s hybrid µTAS conference. We look forward to seeing you at µTAS 2022 (Hangzhou, China)!

Read the growing collection here – rsc.li/AIinMicrofluidics

We are delighted to announce a new thematic collection in Lab on a Chip on AI in Microfluidics, with Professors Keisuke Goda, Hang Lu, Peng Fei & Jochen Guck as Thought Leaders.

The last decade has seen unprecedented growth in computational power and cloud storage breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI). AI-produced outcomes have been proven comparable or even superior to the performance of human experts in drug design, material discovery, and medical diagnosis. In these applications, lab on a chip technology, in particular microfluidics, plays an important role as a platform for both the construction and implementation of AI in a large-scale, high-throughput, automated, multiplexed, and cost-effective manner. The goal of this thematic collection is to highlight new advances in this growing field with an emphasis on the interface between technological advancements and impactful applications.

This on-going collection is collated by Thought Leaders Keisuke Goda, Hang Lu, Peng Fei & Jochen Guck, and the Lab on a Chip Editorial Office. Are you interested in submitting? We welcome submissions of original research articles and reviews, which (after peer review) will be published and added to the online collection. Papers in this collection will receive extensive promotion throughout the submission period and also will be disseminated widely as a ‘flagship’ collection for the journal. If you are interested in submitting to the series, please get in touch with the Lab on a Chip Editorial Office at loc-rsc@rsc.org

This collection is open for submissions now