Lab on a Chip Blog

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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Point of Care Diagnostics Workshop – 4 Dec 2012, London UK

09 Oct 2012

By RSC Internet Services.

Point-of-Care Diagnostics Workshop
4 December 2012, Burlington House, London, UK

Point-of-care diagnostic (POC) test devices provide rapid results on an ever expanding range of medical tests, helping to streamline healthcare and improve clinical outcomes. Research on microfluidics for POC applications has increased markedly in recent years, fuelled by an interest in constructing field-deployable analytical instruments. The interest in POC microfluidic-based devices has been intense and has cut across all major disciplines in lab-on-a-chip research, including engineering (biomedical, chemical, electrical, and mechanical), chemistry, and physics. For further details please visit the website.

Abstract submission deadline: 31 October 2012. Abstract submission is now available online.

Application deadline: 31 October 2012. Application is now available online.

Workshop format
The aims of this Joint Biochemical Society/Royal Society of Chemistry workshop are to provide participants with a better understanding of the challenges involved in translating research outputs into application and to help encourage collaborations with industry and clinicians on POC. The workshop will bring together researchers who work at the interface between biology, chemistry and the wider life and medical sciences. Participants will be encouraged to participate in oral presentations, as well as in discussion groups intended to help move this area forward.

Speakers
Dr Ana Alfirevic, University of Liverpool, UK
Professor Andrew de Mello, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Attendance is by application only and will be FREE of charge for Biochemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry members.

This workshop is the fourth of a series entitled “Analytical Tools for the Life Sciences”, a collaborative project between the Biochemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry members.

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MicroTAS 2012

27 Sep 2012

By RSC Internet Services.

The Okinawa Convention Center in Okinawa, Japan, will be home to the 16th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (µTAS 2012) this October (October 28 to November 1).

Lab on a Chip has a long history with the conference, as Harp Minhas (Editor) is a member of the Founders Advisory Board; Harp will be present in Okinawa to join in the discussions. If you are planning on attending the meeting do introduce yourself to Harp as he would be delighted to meet you.

Another of Harp’s roles at the conference will be announcing the winners of several sponsored prizes:

Lab on a Chip/Corning Inc Pioneers in Miniaturization Lectureship
(sponsored by Lab on a Chip, Corning Inc, and CBMS)

Lab on a Chip Widmer Poster Prize
(sponsored by Lab on a Chip)

The µTAS Art in Science Award
(sponsored by NIST, Lab on a Chip and CBMS)

Keep on eye on the blog for the announcement of the winners after the conference!

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Want to know more about Organs-on-chips? Read our free articles!

27 Sep 2012

By RSC Internet Services.

As the meeting at the Lorentz Center entitled ‘Organs on Chips: Human Disease Models‘ draws to a close, we thought we’d remind you about the fantastic free* collection of articles we’ve put together from Lab on a Chip and Integrative Biology on the topic.

The collection can be found here, and includes papers such as:

Microengineered physiological biomimicry: Organs-on-Chips
Dongeun Huh, Yu-suke Torisawa, Geraldine A. Hamilton, Hyun Jung Kim and Donald E. Ingber
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40089H

Organs-on-chips: breaking the in vitro impasse
Andries D. van der Meer and Albert van den Berg
DOI: 10.1039/C2IB00176D

Ensembles of engineered cardiac tissues for physiological and pharmacological study: Heart on a chip
Anna Grosberg, Patrick W. Alford, Megan L. McCain and Kevin Kit Parker
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20557A

Hurry though, as the collection is only available with free* access till the 8th October!

*Free access is provided to recognised institutions or to individuals through an RSC Publishing Personal Account. Registration is quick and easy at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/account/register.

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Hot articles from our Emerging Investigators

20 Sep 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

We’re delighted to announce the publication of our 2012 Emerging Investigators issue, which contains a massive 6 HOT articles! Read the editorial from Amy Herr and Aaron Wheeler to find out why this group of researchers is affectionately known as control freaks..

Controllable microfluidic production of gas-in-oil-in-water emulsions for hollow microspheres with thin polymer shells
Ran Chen, Peng-Fei Dong, Jian-Hong Xu, Yun-Dong Wang and Guang-Sheng Luo
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40387K

A rotary microsystem for simple, rapid and automatic RNA purification
Byung Hyun Park, Jae Hwan Jung, Hainan Zhang, Nae Yoon Lee and Tae Seok Seo
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40487G

Cytotoxicity analysis of water disinfection byproducts with a micro-pillar microfluidic device
Austin Hsiao, Yukako Komaki, Syed M. Imaad, Benito J. Mariñas, Michael J. Plewa and G. Logan Liu
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40374A

Highly sensitive and quantitative detection of rare pathogens through agarose droplet microfluidic emulsion PCR at the single-cell level
Zhi Zhu, Wenhua Zhang, Xuefei Leng, Mingxia Zhang, Zhichao Guan, Jiangquan Lu and Chaoyong James Yang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40461C

Enantioselective analysis of melagatran via an LSPR biosensor integrated with a microfluidic chip
Longhua Guo, Yuechun Yin, Rong Huang, Bin Qiu, Zhenyu Lin, Huang-Hao Yang, Jianrong Li and Guonan Chen
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40388A

Real-time full-spectral imaging and affinity measurements from 50 microfluidic channels using nanohole surface plasmon resonance
Si Hoon Lee, Nathan C. Lindquist, Nathan J. Wittenberg, Luke R. Jordan and Sang-Hyun Oh
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40455A

These articles will be free to access for the next 4 weeks. (Free access to individuals is provided through an RSC Publishing personal account. Registration is quick, free and simple.)

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Free organs on chips articles

20 Sep 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

To coincide with the Organs on Chips: Human Disease Models meeting being held at the Lorentz Center, The Netherlands, 24^th – 28^th September, Lab on a Chip and Integrative Biology are delighted to bring you a free* collection of articles on organ-on-chip research.

http://rsc.li/lorentz

These articles will only be available until October 8^th so hurry, don’t miss out!

*Free access is provided to subscribing institutions or to individuals through an RSC Publishing Personal Account. Registration is quick and easy at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/account/register.

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Body heat could drive drug delivery

14 Sep 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

Another Lab on a Chip article has been picked up by the press, describing a nifty micropump which is powered by fermentation of yeast. Manuel Ochoa and Babak Ziaie, Purdue University, created the “microorganism-powered thermopneumatic pump” by stacking PDMS layers with a silicon substrate drug reservoir and a chamber for the yeast. They showed that when the yeast ferments under body temperatures, the micropump could displace the drug in the reservoir. The technology has caused excitement due to its potential for use in transdermal drug delivery patches, by driving tiny microneedle arrays.

A fermentation-powered thermopneumatic pump for biomedical applications
Manuel Ochoa and Babak Ziaie
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40620A

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Off to Optofluidics 2012? Meet Editor Harp Minhas there

11 Sep 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

Lab on a Chip Editor Harp Minhas will be attending Optofluidics 2012 which starts this Thursday at Dushu Lake Hotel, Suzhou, China. If you are planning on attending the meeting do introduce yourself to Harp as he would be delighted to meet you.

Also, if you’re off to the conference don’t forget to take a look at our themed issue on optofluidics before you go!

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Article on light-activated muscle has people twitching

04 Sep 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

A collaborative study by Harry Asada (MIT) and Roger Kamm (Penn State) and colleagues just published in Lab on a Chip has been causing a bit of a stir on the blogosphere recently. The article describes the stimulation of muscle, not by electrical signals as used in the body, but by light. The team engineered skeletal muscle tissue to contain a light-responsive protein, which allowed it to contract when blue light was shone on it, as shown in the video below from the MIT press release:

Jumping straight from this amazing achievement to the future, several blogs have already discussed the potential of this technology for advanced biorobotics (this article was our favourite). Professor Asada is a little more modest and discusses the potential of the engineered muscle to control endoscopes or be used in drug screening programmes.

Read the paper here or take a look at some of the posts on the topic:

siliconANGLE
Judgement Day Beckons: Scientists Grow ‘Light-Activated’ Muscle Tissue For Robots

Wired
Light-activated skeletal muscle could be used to make realistic robots

The Verge
Laser-stimulated muscle tissue could be used to build ‘bio-integrated’ robots

Machines like us
Researchers engineer light-activated skeletal muscle

Formation and optogenetic control of engineered 3D skeletal muscle bioactuators
Mahmut Selman Sakar, Devin M Neal, Thomas Boudou, Michael A Borochin, Yinqing Li, Ron Weiss, Roger Kamm, Christopher S. Chen and H Harry Asada
Lab Chip, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40338B

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Lab on a Chip Blog

Issue 22 – Focus on Scandinavia

Point of Care Diagnostics Workshop – 4 Dec 2012, London UK

MicroTAS 2012

Want to know more about Organs-on-chips? Read our free articles!

Top ten most accessed articles in July 2012

Hot articles from our Emerging Investigators

Free organs on chips articles

Body heat could drive drug delivery

Off to Optofluidics 2012? Meet Editor Harp Minhas there

Article on light-activated muscle has people twitching

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