Lab on a Chip Blog

Article on light-activated muscle has people twitching

04 Sep 2012

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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Moving microrobots with bubbles

31 Aug 2012

By Aliya Anwar.

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

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Hot articles in optofluidics

29 Aug 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

You might have already seen our themed issue on optofluidics but in case you haven’t, here are the HOT articles from this issue:

Yi-Chung Tung et al. review the recent advances in optofluidic technologies that will open up new possibilities for on-chip phenotyping

Optofluidic detection for cellular phenotyping
Yi-Chung Tung, Nien-Tsu Huang, Bo-Ram Oh, Bishnubrata Patra, Chi-Chun Pan, Teng Qiu, Paul K. Chu, Wenjun Zhang and Katsuo Kurabayashi
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40509A

Kevin Raymond et al. have developed an ‘optofluidic nose’ for sensing organic liquids based on wetting in photonic-crystal arrays.

Combinatorial wetting in colour: an optofluidic nose
Kevin P. Raymond, Ian B. Burgess, Mackenzie H. Kinney, Marko Lončar and Joanna Aizenberg
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40489C

Haiwang Li and colleagues demonstrate the design of a bi-concave lens to perform both light focusing and diverging in-plane.

An electrokinetically tunable optofluidic bi-concave lens
Haiwang Li, Chaolong Song, Trung Dung Luong, Nam-Trung Nguyen and Teck Neng Wong
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40406K

Yasutaka Hanada and coworkers show how to create a highly sensitive optofluidic chip for biochemical liquid assays by coating microfluidic channels with a low refractive index polymer and use of an optical waveguide.

Highly sensitive optofluidic chips for biochemical liquid assay fabricated by 3D femtosecond laser micromachining followed by polymer coating
Yasutaka Hanada, Koji Sugioka and Katsumi Midorikawa
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40377C

Jigang Wu, Guoan Zheng and Lap Man Lee focus on compact systems in their review of optical imaging techniques that can be integrated with microfluidics.

Optical imaging techniques in microfluidics and their applications
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40517B

Chao-Min Cheng and colleagues provide thoughtful insight into the application of optofluidics to synthetic biology in this forward-looking Frontier article.

Frontiers of optofluidics in synthetic biology
Cheemeng Tan, Shih-Jie Lo, Philip R. LeDuc and Chao-Min Cheng
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40828G

Shih-Kang Fan’s team manipulate 200 nL bubbles with DEP and ignite microplasma within them, with potential for future applications in the biomedical field.

Atmospheric-pressure microplasma in dielectrophoresis-driven bubbles for optical emission spectroscopy
Shih-Kang Fan, Yan-Ting Shen, Ling-Pin Tsai, Cheng-Che Hsu, Fu-Hsiang Ko and Yu-Ting Cheng
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40499K

Wenqi Hu, Kelly S. Ishii, Qihui Fan and Aaron T. Ohta report a hydrogel microrobot which can be manipulated by laser-induced bubbles. Single or pairs of robots are able to assemble polystyrene beads and yeast cells into patterns.

Hydrogel microrobots actuated by optically generated vapour bubbles
Wenqi Hu, Kelly S. Ishii, Qihui Fan and Aaron T. Ohta
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40483D

Remember, all our cover articles are free to access for 6 weeks, and our HOT articles for 4 weeks. All you need to access them is an RSC Publishing Personal Account – signing up is quick and easy.

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Themed issue on optofluidics out now

23 Aug 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

Lab on a Chip is delighted to publish what we believe is the first issue dedicated to research in the exciting new field of optofluidics, guest edited by Professors Ai-Qun Liu (Nanyang Technological University) and Changhuei Yang (Caltech).

Read their editorial introduction to the issue, where they discuss some of the most innovative new developments in this rapidly blossoming field.

We’ve got some great artwork on the covers of this issue, highlighting the range of articles in this issue:

Katsuo Kurabayashi et al. have discussed the promise of optofluidic technologies to enable on-chip cellular phenotyping in their critical review which features on the outside front cover. On the inside front cover Joanna Aizenberg and colleagues have developed an ‘optofluidic nose’ – a litmus test which can differentiate organics liquids based on wetting, while on the back cover Teck Neng Wong et al. have created an optofluidic bi-concave lens to both focus and diverge a light source by applying an external electric field to a constant flow. On the other back cover Katsumi Midorikawa and coworkers fabricated highly sensitive optofluidic chips for biochemical liquid assays.

Don’t forget – all articles on our covers are free to access for 6 weeks! You just need to sign in with your RSC Publishing Personal Account.

View the rest of the issue

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New YouTube videos

23 Aug 2012

By Nathalie Horner.

View the new videos on the Lab on a Chip YouTube site using the links below:

Programmable large area digital microfluidic array with integrated droplet sensing for bioassays

Microcapillary-assisted dielectrophoresis for single-particle positioning

Characterization of a novel impedance cytometer design and its integration with lateral focusing by dielectrophoresis

Vascular lumen simulation and highly-sensitive nitric oxide detection using three-dimensional gelatin chip coupled to TiC/C nanowire arrays microelectrode

Tailoring the wetting properties of thiolene microfluidic materials

A mini-microscope for in situ monitoring of cells

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IEEE-EMBS Micro- and Nanoengineering in Medicine Conference (MNMC 2012) – Abstract Deadline 31 August 2012

17 Aug 2012

By Nathalie Horner.

IEEE-EMBS Micro-and Nanoengineering in Medicine Conference (MNMC 2012). Hawaii, December 3-7, 2012. http://mnm.embs.org/2012/

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New YouTube videos

09 Aug 2012

By Nathalie Horner.

View the new videos on the Lab on a Chip YouTube site using the links below:

Synthesis, assembly and reaction of a nanocatalyst in microfluidic systems: a general platform

A sorting strategy for C. elegans based on size-dependent motility and electrotaxis in a micro-structured channel

Nuclear deformation during breast cancer cell transmigration

Optofluidic integrated cell sorter fabricated by femtosecond lasers

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3D-printed miniaturised fluidic devices

09 Aug 2012

By Nathalie Horner.

A variety of milli- and microfluidic devices printed in polypropylene using the 3D Touch printer. Image credit: Geoffrey J T Cooper/Lee Cronin/University of Glasgow

UK scientists have developed 3D printing technology for making miniaturised fluidic reactionware devices that can be used for chemical syntheses, in just a few hours.

Having recently built a 3D printer in his laboratory, Leroy Cronin and his colleagues from the University of Glasgow have now shown that intricate micro- and milli-scale reactionware can be printed. This technology offers scientists the freedom to design bespoke reactors using low cost materials, with a quick production turn-around. Initial design to a functional reactor is completed within a matter of hours and chemical reactions using the device can be completed in the same day.

See the full article in Chemistry World

Or read the Lab on a Chip paper:

Configurable 3D-Printed millifluidic and microfluidic ‘lab on a chip’ reactionware devices
Philip J. Kitson, Mali H. Rosnes, Victor Sans, Vincenza Dragone and Leroy Cronin
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40761B

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HOT article: Digital microfluidics for measuring glucose in human blood serum

07 Aug 2012

By RSC Internet Services.

Hywel Morgan and colleagues at Sharp Laboratories of Europe, the University of Southampton and Sharp Corporation, Japan, demonstrate a large area digital microfluidic array in this HOT article.

Using a thin film transistor (TFT) array rather than the traditional patterned electrodes usually used in electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) devices, the team developed active matrix electrowetting on dielectric (AM-EWOD) devices. The TFT array enables each of the many thousand electrodes to be individually addressable, and the array is ‘fully reconfigurable and can be programmed to support multiple simultaneous operations’.

Read how the device can be used for measuring glucose in human blood serum in the full article (it’s free to access for four weeks*!):

Programmable large area digital microfluidic array with integrated droplet sensing for bioassays
B. Hadwen, G. R. Broder, D. Morganti, A. Jacobs, C. Brown, J. R. Hector, Y. Kubota and H. Morgan
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40273D

*Following a simple registration.

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Sharp images of turbid flows in microfluidic devices

03 Aug 2012

By Francesca Burgoyne.

Pietro Ferraro and colleagues from three Italian research institutes have used digital holography to image objects in turbid flowing media in microfluidic devices. Although many current techniques are able to provide in situ images of liquids flowing in microfluidic devices, they are limited to cases of clear liquids with relatively stable flows. Due to the Doppler effect of flowing colloidal particles the researchers were able to reconstruct digital holographic images, and demonstrated this with milk:

As with all our HOT articles, this one is free to access for 4 weeks following a simple registration:

Microscopy imaging and quantitative phase contrast mapping in turbid microfluidic channels by digital holography
Melania Paturzo, Andrea Finizio, Pasquale Memmolo, Roberto Puglisi, Donatella Balduzzi, Andrea Galli and Pietro Ferraro
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40114B

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Lab on a Chip Blog

Article on light-activated muscle has people twitching

Moving microrobots with bubbles

Hot articles in optofluidics

Themed issue on optofluidics out now

New YouTube videos

IEEE-EMBS Micro- and Nanoengineering in Medicine Conference (MNMC 2012) – Abstract Deadline 31 August 2012

New YouTube videos

3D-printed miniaturised fluidic devices

HOT article: Digital microfluidics for measuring glucose in human blood serum

Sharp images of turbid flows in microfluidic devices

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