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Take 1.. minute for chemistry in health

31 May 2013

Do you know how chemical scientists can tackle global challenges in Human Health? If so, the RSC is running a one minute video competition this summer for young researchers such as PhD and Post-doc students; get involved and innovate the way scientists share their research. Your video should communicate your own personal research or an area of research that interests you, highlighting its significance and impact to Human Health.

Five videos will be shortlisted by our judging panel and the winner will be selected during the ‘How does chemistry keep us healthy?’ themed National Chemistry Week taking place 16-23 November.

A £500 prize and a fantastic opportunity to shadow the award winning video Journalist, Brady Harran, is up for grabs for the winner.

The judging panel will include the makers of The Periodic Tale of Videos, Martyn Poliakoff and Brady Harran, and RSC Division representatives.

Check out our webpage for further details of the competition and an example video.

The competition will open 02 April 2013 and the closing date for entries is 01 July 2013. Please submit your entries to rsc.li/take-1-video-competition.

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Smart superhydrophobic textile to remove sweat

27 May 2013

A Lab on a Chip article from Siyuan Xing, Jia Jiang and Tingrui Pan at University of California Davis, USA, has been featured in the scientific press this week. It describes their new smart fabric that uses microfluidic transport to move liquid along water-repelling yarn. This article has captured peoples’ attention because of its potential application in smart clothing that removes sweat from the body during exercise.

This new micropatterned superhydrophobic textile (MST) platform cleverly combines the hydrophilic yarn with the superhydrophobic substrate to channel the fluid and allow surface tension to drive forward the flow in addition to the more usual capillary forces. No external pump is necessary and the fabric continues to function even when completely soaked, as capillary action is not the only driving force.

Read the article in full in Lab on a Chip today:

Interfacial microfluidic transport on micropatterned superhydrophobic textile
Siyuan Xing, Jia Jianga and Tingrui Pan
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC41255E

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The 3rd International Conference on Optofluidics

20 May 2013

The 3rd International Conference on Optofluidics (Optofluidcs2013)

15-17 August 2013, Hong Kong

Abstract submission deadline: 3 June 2013 (Monday)

http://www.optofluidics.cn/

There are only 3 weeks remaining until the abstract submission deadline – 3 June 2013. Please follow the template to prepare the abstracts and email to opf2013@polyu.edu.hk.

Accepted papers will also be invited for a Special Issue of Lab on a Chip.

Abstract Topic Categories (http://www.optofluidics.cn/Authors.html) :

Topic 1: Liquid waveguides and new optical devices/systems
Topic 2: Optical manipulation, trapping and sorting
Topic 3: Microfluidic optical sensing
Topic 4: Optofluidic imaging, microscopy and display
Topic 5: Optofluidic light sources
Topic 6: Optofludics for water, energy and environment
Topic 7: Fabrication technologies and materials
Topic 8: Others

Optofluidics is a vibrant new research field that combines optics, fluidics and micro/nano technologies for advanced functionalities. Following the successful conferences in Xi’an and Suzhou in last two years, Optofluidics 2013 will be held in Hong Kong in 15 – 17 August 2013, jointly organized by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Jinan University and Lab on a Chip. This annual conference provides a unique forum for leading scientists and researchers to present the latest progress in the fields of optofluidics and related research.

Please help promote this conference and encourage your colleagues and research staff to attend this event. Here are some highlights of this conference:

− More than 20 plenary/invited speakers from the top scientists in optofluidics and related fields

− Selected papers will be invited for a special issue of Lab on a Chip (subjected to peer review).

− 5 Best Paper Awards sponsored by Lab on a Chip and Lin’s Foundation

We greatly value your participation and sincerely hope to meet you at the conference.

Best regards,

Local organizers:

Dr Xuming Zhang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Professor Baiou Guan, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

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Free software tool for quantitative droplet analysis

18 Apr 2013

Prof. Amar Basu from Wayne State University, USA, uses a tutorial video to explain his new freely available software tool Droplet Morphometry and Velocimetry (DMV):

A common problem for researchers in droplet microfluidics is the quantitative analysis of droplets. Developments in the droplet microfluidics literature have shown that there is a great deal of relevant information encoded into a droplet’s physical characteristics, such its size, shape, velocity and trajectory. Indeed, several techniques utilize such characteristics as measurements for label-free assays. Currently however, much of the video or image analysis must be done manually.

Droplet Morphometry and Velocimetry (DMV) is a software tool which uses image processing techniques to track droplets in digital videos, providing quantitative, time-resolved, label-free measurements. DMV tracks 20 different parameters, including size, shape, trajectory, velocity, pixel statistics and nearest neighbor spacing. Our recent Lab on a Chip paper provides details on DMV performance and how it can be used to analyze common droplet operations and systems reported by industry and academic labs, including: droplet generators, splitting and merging devices, cell encapsulation efficiency, serial dilutions, emulsion packing, size distributions and sorting efficiency.

Droplet Morphometry and Velocimetry (DMV): A video processing software for time-resolved, label-free tracking of droplet parameters
A. S. Basu
DOI:10.1039/C3LC50074H

DMV is available free of charge to researchers in the droplet microfluidics community. Currently >25 labs worldwide have requested the software. To obtain the software, please feel free to contact Prof. Amar Basu at abasu@eng.wayne.edu. Accompanying the software are a video training tutorial, installation tutorial and a playlist of videos showing the application of DMV in various operations.

This example video of DMV applied to drop splitting is one of eight available application example videos:

We welcome your feedback and new applications of DMV! Updates will be posted to our website at http://microfluidics.wayne.edu.

DMV video tutorial (58 minutes, HD): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOaYX4Zk9mA

DMV Installation tutorial (4 minutes, HD): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpAIn2MsAQ

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Two post-doctoral research positions in microfluidics

22 Feb 2013

For those of you reading this blog who are active researchers in the field of microfluidics, here are two job opportunities that have been brought to our attention, which may well be of interest:

Research Associate (MEMPHIS project) at UCL Department of Chemical Engineering
Full time, funded for three years in the first instance, available immediately, closing date 09/03/2013
Salary: £32,375 – £39,132 per annum

Applications are invited for a research associate position in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL. The main role will be to carry out experimental investigations of multiphase flows. This post will be funded by a £5M EPSRC Programme Grant that will harness the synergy between world-leading scientists from four prestigious institutions: Imperial College, Birmingham, Nottingham and UCL, to create the next generation modelling tools for complex multiphase flows. This will require a programme of focussed, multi-scale experiments on multiphase flows to validate and update numerical codes.

The experimental work will involve application of optical diagnostic methods on small and large scale geometries, with an additional aim of developing routes to create novel multiphase structures which can be exploited by our industrial partners. It will be expected that the post holder will interact closely with the numerical component of the Programme, carried out at all the participating universities, in order to validate, and update the numerical tools, and to provide input into the design of experiments. Experience in PIV preferred.

For key requirements and further details please download the full job advert by clicking on MEMPHIS_Advert_Feb13.

For queries about the application process contact Miss Agata Blaszczyk at a.blaszcuyk@ucl.ac.uk; for informal inquiries please contact Dr P. Angeli at p.angeli@ucl.ac.uk or visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemeng/vacancies for further information.

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (Boiling in Microchannels) at Brunel University School of Engineering and Design
Three years beginning 1st May 2013, closing date 21/03/2013
Salary £32,590 – £38,464 per annum

Applications are sought for a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to join a very active research team in the area of two-phase flow in microchannels. The research will work on a project entitled “Boiling in Microchannels – Integrated design of closed-loop cooling system for devices operating at high heat fluxes”. The project is in collaboration with Edinburgh University and is funded by EPSRC. It is also sponsored by four UK based companies. The project aims to study fundamental and practical aspects of flow boiling in micro single and multichannel arrangements that will elucidate physical phenomenal and lead to actual prototype designs for use in high flux devices. The work at Brunel will be experimental.

For key requirements and further details please download the full job advert by clicking on DEA0559-1;

If you have any queries please contact Professor Karayiannis at tassos.karayiannis@brunel.ac.uk or visit https://jobs.brunel.ac.uk/WRL

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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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Moving microrobots with bubbles

31 Aug 2012

Microrobots smaller than the width of a human hair have been directed to assemble patterns made of single yeast cells and cell-laden agarose microgels using cavitation bubbles by a team from Hawaii. The robots could be used to push cells together to grow artificial tissue.

The microbot manipulating agarose gel blocks, some containing cells, into a 3x4 array

There have been a number of different methods used to manipulate single cells into patterns; including micromanipulators, which physically trap and hold cells but need skilled technicians to use them; and optical tweezers, which can be automated but usually need strong lasers or electrical fields that can affect the cells.

Read the full article in Chemistry World.

Or read the Lab on a Chip paper:
Hydrogel microrobots actuated by optically generated vapour bubbles
Wenqi Hu, Kelly S. Ishii, Qihui Fan and Aaron T. Ohta
Lab Chip, 2012,12, 3821-3826
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40483D