Lab on a Chip Blog

Art in Science Competiton

19 Aug 2014

The µTAS 2014 Conference is featuring an art in science competition titled Under the Looking Glass: Art from the World of Small Science

Deadline 27th October 2014

Since the earliest publications of the scientific world, the aesthetic value of scientific illustrations and images has been critical to many researchers. The illustrations and diagrams of earlier scientists such as Galileo and Da Vinci have become iconic symbols of science and the scientific thought process. In current scientific literature, many scientists consider the selection of a publication as a “cover article” in a prestigious journal to be very complimentary.

Are you attending the µTAS 2014 Conference?

Would you like your image to be featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip?

Would you like to win a financial reward?

To draw attention to the aesthetic value in scientific illustration while still conveying scientific merit, NIST and Lab on a Chip are sponsoring this annual award. Applications are encouraged from authors in attendance of the µTAS Conference and the winner will be selected by a panel of senior scientists in the field of µTAS. Applications must show a photograph, micrograph or other accurate representation of a system that would be of interest to the µTAS community and be represented in the final manuscript or presentation given at the Conference. They must also contain a brief caption that describes the illustration’s content and its scientific merit. The winner will be selected on the basis of aesthetic eye appeal, artistic allure and scientific merit. In addition to having the image featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip, the winner will also receive a financial award at the Conference.

Art Award Submission Process – Easy 3 Step Process

Step 1. Sign-In to the Electronic Form Using Your Abstract/Manuscript Number

Step 2. Fill in Remaining Information on Electronic Submission Form

Step 3. Upload Your Image

For full guidelines, have a look on the competition website.

Good Luck!

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2014 Insights Issue

18 Aug 2014

By Liz Bowley.

Guest editor, George Whitesides, introduces this series of Insights in Lab on a Chip’s 200^th editorial.

Collectively, these Insights demonstrate how the emphasis in LOC science and technology is shifting from foundational areas, such as methods of micofabrication and the physics of microscale flows, to serious explorations of uses and to demonstrations of applications. It is this research that provides the incentive for further and more extensive industrial engineering development and ultimately the incorporation into products. We hope you enjoy reading the collection as much as we did.

Frontiers

Energy: the microfluidic frontier

David Sinton
Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 3127-3134
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00267A

Physics and technological aspects of nanofluidics

Lyderic Bocquet and Patrick Tabeling
Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 3143-3158
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00325J

Smartphone technology can be transformative to the deployment of lab-on-chip diagnostics

David Erickson, Dakota O’Dell, Li Jiang, Vlad Oncescu, Abdurrahman Gumus, Seoho Lee, Matthew Mancuso and Saurabh Mehta
Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 3159-3164
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00142G

Critical Review

Biomedical imaging and sensing using flatbed scanners

Zoltán Göröcs and Aydogan Ozcan
Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 3248-3257
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00530A

Read the full themed collection online today!

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2014 Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship Winner

12 Aug 2014

By Liz Bowley.

Dr. Sangeeta N. Bhatia is winner of the 2014 Corning Inc./Lab on a Chip Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship

The 9th ‘Pioneers of Ministurisation‘ Lectureship, is for extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturised systems and will be presented to Dr Bhatia at the µTAS 2014 Conference in San Antonio, Texas in October. Dr Bhatia will receive a certificate, $5000 and will give a short lecture at the µTAS Conference, later this year.

About the winner

Dr Bhatia conducts research at the intersection of engineering, medicine, and biology to develop novel platforms for understanding, diagnosing, and treating human disease. Her ‘tiny technologies’ interface living cells with synthetic systems, enabling new applications in tissue regeneration, stem cell differentiation, medical diagnostics and drug delivery. She and her colleagues were the first to demonstrate that microfabrication technologies used in semiconductor manufacturing could be used to organize cells of different types to produce a tissue with emergent properties. Dr. Bhatia’s findings have produced high-throughput-capable human microlivers, which model human drug metabolism, drug-induced liver disease, and interaction with human pathogens. Her group also develops nanoparticles and nanoporous materials that can be designed to assemble and communicate to diagnose and treat a variety of diseases, including cancer.

Dr. Bhatia co-authored the first undergraduate textbook on tissue engineering and has published more than 150 manuscripts, that have been cited over 13,500 times. She and her 150+ trainees have contributed to more than 40 issued or pending patents and launched 9 biotechnology companies with close to 100 products. She is a frequent advisor to governmental organizations and consults widely for academia and industry.

Dr. Bhatia holds a B.S. from Brown University; an M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT; a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from MIT; and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and currently she directs the Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies at MIT. She is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. She is a member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, a senior member of the Broad Institute, and a biomedical engineer at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Dr. Bhatia is an elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences, Biomedical Engineering Society, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

We would like to congratulate Dr Bhatia on this achievement!

The 2013 Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship was awarded to Shuichi Takayama, University of Michigan.

See here for further information, including past winners.

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2013 Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture

12 Aug 2014

By Liz Bowley.

The 2013 Pioneers of Miniaturisation Prize went to Shuichi Takayama!

Lab on a Chip joined forces with Corning Incorporated to award the eighth Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship, including a certificate of recognition and a prize of $5000.

The lectureship was presented at the µTAS 2013 Conference in Freiburg, Germany. 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 Schuichi Takayama at the University of Michigan, USA.

Shu has made seminal contributions and provided true vision in advancing scientific developments and technologies that have increased our understanding of phenomena at the micro- and nano scale. Not only was he the first to report an organ on a chip, in his pioneering paper (PNAS 2007), but he has also developed bone-on-a-chip and stem cell-on-a-chip as well as establishing various organ-on-a-chip platforms. Amnosgt his many achievements, Shu has improved handling of sperm, eggs an embryos during the in vitro fertilization processes by designing integrated microfluidic systems.

Shu has published several papers in Lab on a Chip – click on the links to download his 2014 papers:

Elevating Sampling
Joseph M. Labuz and Shuichi Takayama
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00125G, Frontier
From themed collection Lab on a Chip: Insights Issue

Defined topologically-complex protein matrices to manipulate cell shape via three-dimensional fiber-like patterns
Christopher Moraes, Byoung Choul Kim, Xiaoyue Zhu, Kristen L. Mills, Angela R. Dixon, M. D. Thouless and Shuichi Takayama
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00122B, Paper
From themed collection Open access articles from Lab on a Chip

Control of soft machines using actuators operated by a Braille display
Bobak Mosadegh, Aaron D. Mazzeo, Robert F. Shepherd, Stephen A. Morin, Unmukt Gupta, Idin Zhalehdoust Sani, David Lai, Shuichi Takayama and George M. Whitesides
DOI: 10.1039/C3LC51083B, Paper

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Increase in Lab on a Chip Impact Factor

04 Aug 2014

By Liz Bowley.

We are delighted to announce that our 2013 Impact Factor* has risen to 5.748!

Lab on a Chip provides a unique forum for the publication of significant and original work related to miniaturisation (on or off chips) at the micro- and nano- scale across a variety of disciplines. We would like to thank all of our Board members, authors, readers and reviewers for their continued support.

Contribute to our next Impact Factor – submit your latest piece of high impact work with us here.

Interested in other Royal Society of Chemistry journals? Click here to see how well they did.

*The Impact Factor provides an indication of the average number of citations per paper. Produced annually, Impact Factors are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years. Data based on 2013 Journal Citation Reports^®, (Thomson Reuters, 2014).

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Lab-in-a-Briefcase

01 Aug 2014

By Liz Bowley.

Andries is a webwriter for Lab on a Chip and a Senior Research Fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering of Harvard University. He works in professor Don Ingber’s Biomimetic Microsystems group and is actively involved in the development of microphysiological in vitro models of human organs, or ‘organs-on-chips’. His main research interests are in vascular biology and microfluidic engineering. Here, Andries writes about a quick, portable method of prostate specific antigen screening…

In a recent paper in Lab on a Chip, a group of British researchers reported a ‘lab-in-a-briefcase’ for detection and quantification of the prostate cancer biomarker PSA in human serum and whole blood. Their lab-in-a-briefcase is a small container with a set of coated plastic capillaries, a pre-loaded microwell plate with reagents and a film scanner.

The researchers stress that their system is cheap and easy to handle, which would make it very useful for performing diagnostics in low resource areas. In addition, their lab-in-a-briefcase demonstrates the potential for point-of-care tests for prostate cancer, which would allow easy screening by non-experts in a non-clinical setting.

The concept of a lab-in-a-briefcase may have more far-reaching implications, though. Most lab-on-a-chip assays and microfluidic systems are usually developed in the context of interdisciplinary research collaborations. One research department may develop a new system, while another department has the – often unstable – samples that are used to demonstrate proof-of-concept. This complexity means that projects can quickly become logistic nightmares.

Multi-site collaborations make the portability and the standardized format that are found in the lab-in-a-briefcase and related technologies very important. It doesn’t matter if the application domain of a project is physics, biochemistry or biology. Developing a portable, standardized set-up with good documentation, automated analysis and easy read-out can contribute greatly to the success of a multi-disciplinary microfluidic engineering project, because it promotes collaboration and a wider application of the technology early on.

All of this means that the lab-in-a-briefcase is not just a niche product that is only useful for cheap point-of-care diagnostics in low resource areas. It is a design concept that anyone in the realm of microfluidic engineering needs to understand. Perhaps the concept is also applicable to the project you’re currently working on?

Go check it out for yourselves – you can download this paper fro free* for a limited time only!

A lab-in-a-briefcase for rapid prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening from whole blood

Ana I. Barbosa, Ana P. Castanheira, Alexander D. Edwards and Nuno M. Reis

DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00464G, Paper

*Access is free through a registered RSC account until 29th August 2014 – click here to register

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Life in the Fast Lane

29 Jul 2014

By Liz Bowley.

An in-depth review of the physical laws governing microscale inertial flow regimes provides design rules enabling novel devices to order and spatially separate particles in complex fluids. Webwriter Aleksandra writes more…

The Reynolds number, ratio of inertial to viscous forces, is low for most microfluidic platforms and has been approximated to zero to model most microscale fluid flows as linear and time-reversible (Stoke’s flow). Yet Dino Di Carlo’s group at the University of California- Los Angeles, among others, have shown that microfluidic systems in which Reynolds’ number ranges from 1 to 100 exhibit non-negligible inertial effects. These forces lead to separation and ordering of particles within channels by stream line crossing due to effects from the channel geometries (lift forces from the channel wall and velocity profile shear gradient). Inertial lift forces are regulated by the channel dimensions and geometry, particle diameter, and flow rate.^[1]

Experimentally-derived intuitions have guided researchers to use the effects of inertial lift forces to produce high throughput flow cytometers to isolate bacteria from diluted blood samples,^[2] systems capable of probing the deformability of cells to evaluate metastatic potential^{[3, 4]} and platforms combined with Dean flow in curved channels to increase mixing of fluids or spirals to improve separation of particles.^[5] Yet the physical underpinnings guiding these channel designs have been limited.

In this review, Amini and colleagues tackle many of the relationships which are important to create new devices by taking advantage of the unique contribution of inertial forces at the microscale. The behavior of non-Newtonian fluids (i.e., whole blood), the role of particle shape on focusing, particle-particle interactions, and the effect of protrusions along the channel length on flow (pillars, herringbone structures) are also discussed and can open exciting new applications in medical diagnostics, chemical synthesis, manufacturing of materials, and beyond. Inertial microfluidics platforms are en route to commercialization by Johnson & Johnson to sort rare circulating tumor cells from whole blood at 10 million cells per second (CTC-iChip^[6]).

Download the full review for free* for a limited time only!

Inertial microfluidic physics
Hamed Amini, Wonhee Lee and Dino Di Carlo. Lab on a Chip, 2014, 14, 2739-2761.
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00128A

References:
[1] D. Di Carlo, Lab on a Chip, 2009, 9, 3038-3046.
[2] A. J. Mach and D. Di Carlo, Biotechnol. Bioeng., 2010, 107, 302-311.
[3] J. S. Dudani, et al, Lab on a Chip, 2013, 13, 3728-3734.
[4] S. C. Hur, et al, Lab on a Chip, 2011, 11, 912-920.
[5] J. M. Martel and M. Toner, Scientific Reports, 2013, 3.
[6] E. Ozkumur, et al, Sci. Transl. Med., 2013, 5, 179ra47.

*Access is free through a registered RSC account until 25th August 2014 – click here to register

About the WebWriter

Sasha is a PhD student in bioengineering working with Professor Beth Pruitt’s Microsystems lab at Stanford University. Her research focuses on evaluating relationships between cell geometry, intracellular structure, and force generation (contractility) in heart muscle cells. Outside the lab, Sasha enjoys hiking, kickboxing, and interactive science outreach.

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200th Issue of Lab on a Chip

28 Jul 2014

By Liz Bowley.

We are delighted to announce the publication of our 200th issue of Lab on a Chip– how we have grown!

Launched in 2001, publishing 2 issues with a total of 31 articles that year, LOC is now publishing 24 issues a year. Many of the young researchers that published in the first issue have now become Professors themselves, and many have gone on to become award winners. Read the full editorial by our Editor, Harp Minhas to find out more!

This picture shows how the image of LOC has developed from the original cover to the LOC we are familiar with today.

To celebrate this achievement, we have made all of the HOT articles in the 200th issue of LOC free* to access throughout August. Click on the links below to download.

A lab-in-a-briefcase for rapid prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening from whole blood

Ana I. Barbosa, Ana P. Castanheira, Alexander D. Edwards and Nuno M. Reis

Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2918-2928
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00464G

Delayed voltammetric with respect to amperometric electrochemical detection of concentration changes in microchannels

Raphaël Trouillon and Martin A. M. Gijs

Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2929-2940
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00493K

Paired single cell co-culture microenvironments isolate by two-phase flown with continuous nutrient renewal

Yu-Chih Chen, Yu-Heng Cheng, Hong Sun Kim, Patrick N. Ingram, Jacques E. Nor and Euisik Yoon

Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2941-2947
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00391H

“Lab on a Chip itself has had an enormous influence on the development of the field, by setting very high scientific standards, by providing a common forum and vocabulary, by highlighting significant results, and by attracting some of the best scientists. The journal, and Harp Minhas as the spirit of the journal, have provided a coherence to Lab-on-a-chip science and technology that have had enormous influence in channeling the direction of the field”

Professor George Whitesides, Chair of Editorial Board, Lab on a Chip

*Access is free through a registered RSC account until 31st August 2014 – click here to register

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New challenges spawn new innovations

24 Jul 2014

By Liz Bowley.

Lab on a Chip is committed to supporting early career scientists, and it is because of this that we are both proud and very pleased to introduce the publication of the 2014 edition of our Emerging Investigators issue.

Guest edited by Dino di Carlo, Helene Andersson-Svah and Yanyi Huang, this issue celebrates the best and brightest amongst early career miniaturisation scientists around the world. Their editorial reflects on the past before introducing the upcoming challenges that new generations of investigators are facing. These challenges are demonstrated in the range of topics covered in this issue.

Read the full Emerging Investigator themed collection now – we hope you enjoy the articles

This issue features three HOT articles, which received particularly high scores at peer review. They are free* to access for a limited time only so click on the links below to download the full articles

Magnetically controllable SD microtissues based on magnetic microcryogels

Wei Liu, Yaqian Li, Siyu Feng, Jia Ning, Jingyu Wang, Maling Gou, Huijun Chen, Feng Xu and Yanan Du

Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2614-2625
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00081A

A simple strategy for in situ fabrication of a smart hydrogel microvalve within microchannels for thermostatic control

Shuo Lin, Wei Wang, Xiao-Jie Ju, Rui Xie and Liang-Yin Chu

Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2626-2634
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00039K

Make is spin: individual trapping of sperm for analysis and recovery using micro-contact printing

J.-P. Frimat, M. Bronkhorst, B. de Wagenaar, J. G. Bomer, F. van der Heijden, A. van den Berg and L. I. Segerink

Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2635-2641
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00050A

*Access is free through a registered RSC account untill 22nd September 2014 – click here to register

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Free access to HOT articles

24 Jul 2014

By Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant.

These HOT articles were recommended by our referees and are free to access for 4 weeks*

Hepatic organoids for microfluidic drug screening
Sam H. Au, M. Dean Chamberlain, Shruthi Mahesh, Michael V. Sefton and Aaron R. Wheeler
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00531G, Paper

Graphical abstract: Hepatic organoids for microfluidic drug screening
Delayed voltammetric with respect to amperometric electrochemical detection of concentration changes in microchannels
Raphaël Trouillon and Martin A. M. Gijs
Lab Chip, 2014,14, 2929-2940
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00493K, Paper

Graphical abstract: Delayed voltammetric with respect to amperometric electrochemical detection of concentration changes in microchannels

A droplet-based heterogeneous immunoassay for screening single cells secreting antigen-specific antibodies
Samin Akbari and Tohid Pirbodaghi
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00082J, Communication

Graphical abstract: A droplet-based heterogeneous immunoassay for screening single cells secreting antigen-specific antibodies
A lab-in-a-briefcase for rapid prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening from whole blood
Ana I. Barbosa, Ana P. Castanheira, Alexander D. Edwards and Nuno M. Reis
Lab Chip, 2014,14, 2918-2928
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00464G, Paper
Graphical abstract: A lab-in-a-briefcase for rapid prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening from whole blood

Induced charge electroosmosis micropumps using arrays of Janus micropillars
Joel S. Paustian, Andrew J. Pascall, Neil M. Wilson and Todd M. Squires
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00141A, Paper

Graphical abstract: Induced charge electroosmosis micropumps using arrays of Janus micropillars
Nanoshuttles propelled by motor proteins sequentially assemble molecular cargo in a microfluidic device
Dirk Steuerwald, Susanna M. Früh, Rudolf Griss, Robert D. Lovchik and Viola Vogel
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00385C, Paper

Graphical abstract: Nanoshuttles propelled by motor proteins sequentially assemble molecular cargo in a microfluidic device
Femtosecond laser 3D micromachining: a powerful tool for the fabrication of microfluidic, optofluidic, and electrofluidic devices based on glass
Koji Sugioka, Jian Xu, Dong Wu, Yasutaka Hanada, Zhongke Wang, Ya Cheng and Katsumi Midorikawa
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00548A, Critical Review

Graphical abstract: Femtosecond laser 3D micromachining: a powerful tool for the fabrication of microfluidic, optofluidic, and electrofluidic devices based on glass
Continuous microcarrier-based cell culture in a benchtop microfluidic bioreactor
F. Abeille, F. Mittler, P. Obeid, M. Huet, F. Kermarrec, M. E. Dolega, F. Navarro, P. Pouteau, B. Icard, X. Gidrol, V. Agache and N. Picollet-D’hahan
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00570H, Paper

Graphical abstract: Continuous microcarrier-based cell culture in a benchtop microfluidic bioreactor
Multiplexed immunoassay based on micromotors and microscale tags
D. Vilela, J. Orozco, G. Cheng, S. Sattayasamitsathit, M. Galarnyk, C. Kan, J. Wang and A. Escarpa
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00596A, Paper

Graphical abstract: Multiplexed immunoassay based on micromotors and microscale tags
Double emulsions from a capillary array injection microfluidic device
Luoran Shang, Yao Cheng, Jie Wang, Haibo Ding, Fei Rong, Yuanjin Zhao and Zhongze Gu
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00698D, Communication

Graphical abstract: Double emulsions from a capillary array injection microfluidic device
SU-8 as a material for lab-on-a-chip-based mass spectrometry
Steve Arscott
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00617H, Tutorial Review

Graphical abstract: SU-8 as a material for lab-on-a-chip-based mass spectrometry
Sorting drops and cells with acoustics: acoustic microfluidic fluorescence-activated cell sorter
Lothar Schmid, David A. Weitz and Thomas Franke
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00588K, Paper

Graphical abstract: Sorting drops and cells with acoustics: acoustic microfluidic fluorescence-activated cell sorter
Physics and technological aspects of nanofluidics
Lyderic Bocquet and Patrick Tabeling
Lab Chip, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00325J, Frontier

Graphical abstract: Physics and technological aspects of nanofluidics

*Free access to individuals is provided through an RSC Publishing personal account. It’s quick, easy and more importantly – free – to register!

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Lab on a Chip Blog

Art in Science Competiton

2014 Insights Issue

2014 Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lectureship Winner

2013 Pioneers of Miniaturisation Lecture

Increase in Lab on a Chip Impact Factor

Lab-in-a-Briefcase

A lab-in-a-briefcase for rapid prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening from whole blood

Life in the Fast Lane

200th Issue of Lab on a Chip

New challenges spawn new innovations

Free access to HOT articles

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