III International Workshop on Analytical Miniaturization and NANOtechnologies

LOC recently published a themed issue on nanomaterials and technologies for lab on a chip applications in collaboration with WAM-NANO2012 – the III International Workshop on Analytical Miniaturization and NANOtechnologies.

The conference was held last month in Barcelona, and below Arben Merkoçi provides a short summary of the meeting:

III International Workshop on Analytical Miniaturization and NANOtechnologiesThe “III International Workshop on Analytical Miniaturization and NANOtechnologies (WAM-NANO2012)” was held in Barcelona, Spain on 11 and 12 June 2012. The event, organised by the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN), highlighted the latest international developments in the use of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for the design and applications of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems and other miniaturised analytical (bio)systems. The workshop, together with a themed issue of Lab-on-a-Chip, entitled “Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials in lab-on-a-chip”, reported on the most important achievements in analytical miniaturisation, where nanotechnology is positioned to enable great advances.

WAM-NANO2012 drew 85 participants from a dozen countries and featured 19 talks by invited speakers, 42 posters, and exhibits by three companies in the field (Fluigent, MicruX Technologies and Invenios). The event began with an opening presentation by Workshop Director Prof Arben Merkoçi, who heads the Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group at ICN.

Invited speakers at WAM-NANO2012:

Yoshinobu Baba (Dept. Applied Chemistry, Nagoya University, Japan)
Nanobiodevice-based single biomolecule and cell analysis for cancer diagnosis and stem cell therapy

Emanuel Carrilho (Bioanalytical, Microfabrication and Separations Group, Instituto de Química de Sao Carlos/ Universidade de Sao Paulo, Instituto Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnologia de Bioanalitica, Sao Carlos Brasil)
New strategies for contactless conductivity detection in microfluidic systems and electrophoresis

Agustín Costa García (University of Oviedo, Spain)
Nanotechnological approaches for improvement of microchip electrophoresis devices

Emmanuel Delamarche (IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland)
Miniaturized assays using capillary-driven microfluidics

Tatsuro Endo (Analytical Chemistry research Group, Department of Applied Chemistry, Osaka Prefecture University, Japan)
Printed two dimensional photonic crystal for single step label-free biosensor

Alberto Escarpa (University of Alcalà, Spain)
High NIR-purity index single-walled carbon nanotubes for electrochemical sensing in microfluidic chips

Carlos García (University of Texas at San Antonio, USA)
Microchips, robots, and nanomaterials: novel strategies for the analysis of biologically active compounds

Akihide Hibara (Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan)
Chemistry and physics of liquid interfaces in microfluidic devices

Alexander Kuhn (ENSCBP, University of Bordeaux, France)
Bipolar electrochemistry in microfluidic channels

Jörg P. Kutter (DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)
Carbon nanotubes for applications in miniaturized separation systems

Laura Lechuga (Centre d’Investigacions en Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia, CIN2 (CSIC-ICN), Barcelona, Spain)
Photonic lab-on-a-chip platforms including novel bimodal interferometers, microfluidics and grating couplers

Arben Merkoçi (Institut Català de Nanotecnologia, ICN, Barcelona, Spain)
Nanoparticles based microfluidics (bio)sensing

Bradley J. Nelson (Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Fabrication and magnetic actuation of polymer helical microswimmers coated with a soft magnetic film

Mar Puyol (Dept. Chemistry, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain)
Microfluidic platforms for nanoparticles synthesis and bioanalytical sensing

Johan Roeraade (Dept. Analytical Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
New miniaturized technologies for mass spectrometry of biomolecules

Oliver Schmidt (Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) Dresden, Germany)
Rolled-up nanotech for lab-in-a-tube systems and microjet engines

Albert Van der Berg (University of Twente, Twente, The Netherlands)
Labs on a chip for medical applications

Jean-Louis Viovy (Macromolecules and microsystems in biology and medicine (MMBM), Institute Curie, Paris, France)
Neuron arrays on chip to study neurodegenrative diseases

Joseph Wang (Dept. Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), USA)
Nanomotor-based biosensing: towards nanomachine-based lab-on-chips

View the whole issue here

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Top ten most accessed articles in May

This month sees the following articles in Lab on a Chip that are in the top ten most accessed:

Microengineered physiological biomimicry: Organs-on-Chips
Dongeun Huh, Yu-suke Torisawa, Geraldine A. Hamilton, Hyun Jung Kim and Donald E. Ingber
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2156-2164
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40089H

Lab on a Chip: United States of America
Donald E. Ingber and George M. Whitesides
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2089-2090
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90052A

Integrated rapid-diagnostic-test reader platform on a cellphone
Onur Mudanyali, Stoyan Dimitrov, Uzair Sikora, Swati Padmanabhan, Isa Navruz and Aydogan Ozcan
Lab Chip, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40235A

High-throughput immunoassay through in-channel microfluidic patterning
Chunhong Zheng, Jingwen Wang, Yuhong Pang, Jianbin Wang, Wenbin Li, Zigang Ge and Yanyi Huang
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2487-2490
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40145B

Microfluidic synthesis of multifunctional Janus particles for biomedical applications
Shikuan Yang, Feng Guo, Brian Kiraly, Xiaole Mao, Mengqian Lu, Kam W. Leong and Tony Jun Huang
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2097-2102
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90046G

Commercialization of microfluidic point-of-care diagnostic devices
Curtis D. Chin, Vincent Linder and Samuel K. Sia
Lab Chip, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21204H

Contributors to the USA issue
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2091-2093
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC90053J

Diagnostic microchip to assay 3D colony-growth potential of captured circulating tumor cells
Colette A. Bichsel, Samy Gobaa, Stefan Kobel, Chiara Secondini, George N. Thalmann, Marco G. Cecchini and Matthias P. Lutolf
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2313-2316
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40130D

Microfluidic approaches for cancer cell detection, characterization, and separation
Jian Chen, Jason Li and Yu Sun
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 1753-1767
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21273K

Microfluidic Apps for off-the-shelf instruments
Daniel Mark, Felix von Stetten and Roland Zengerle
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2464-2468
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC00043A

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to Lab on a Chip? Then why not submit to us today or alternatively email us your suggestions.

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HOT article: microfluidic polyplex preparation on a chip

Researchers at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, have developed a new technique for the production of polyplexes that produces more regular sized complexes compared to the standard pipetting methods. Polyplexes are the complexes that form by electrostatic interactions of oppositely charged macromolecules – in this case poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) and plasmid DNA, which are used in gene therapy applications.

The group, led by Thomas Kissel, developed a method that produces the complexes using microfluidics on a chip. Over the course of the study, they investigated the factors that could affect the complex size, and discovered that the most important factor was the ratio of PEI to DNA, whilst other factors were not as important. Using the chip method, regular sized complexes (140 nm and 160 nm) were produced, compared to the more irregular pipetting method. The team also showed that different (targeted) PEI-based vectors could be used for the formation of complexes with pDNA and siRNA.

Read the details of the study here:

Optimized preparation of pDNA/poly(ethylene imine) polyplexes using a microfluidic system
Heiko Debus, Moritz Beck-Broichsitter and Thomas Kissel
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40176B

This HOT article is free to access for the next four weeks following a simple registration for individual users.

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Have you seen the best of LOC?

The Editors at Lab on a Chip have been busy picking out the top 10% from all our high quality papers to bring you a collection of recent articles that we think will be of exceptional significance for the miniaturisation community.

Papers in this category will have received excellent reports during peer review, and demonstrate a breakthrough in device technology, methodology or demonstrate important new results for chemistry, physics, biology or bioengineering enabled by miniaturisation.

Here are the papers that have caught our eye so far:

Frontier
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

Focus
Education: a microfluidic platform for university-level analytical chemistry laboratories
Jesse Greener, Ethan Tumarkin, Michael Debono, Andrew P. Dicks and Eugenia Kumacheva
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20951A

Tutorial Review
Brain slice on a chip: opportunities and challenges of applying microfluidic technology to intact tissues
Yu Huang, Justin C. Williams and Stephen M. Johnson
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21142D

Critical Review
Engineers are from PDMS-land, Biologists are from Polystyrenia
Erwin Berthier, Edmond W. K. Young and David Beebe
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20982A

Communications
“Fluidic batteries” as low-cost sources of power in paper-based microfluidic devices
Nicole K. Thom, Kimy Yeung, Marley B. Pillion and Scott T. Phillips
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40126F

Sorting cells by size, shape and deformability
Jason P. Beech, Stefan H. Holm, Karl Adolfsson and Jonas O. Tegenfeldt
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21083E

Papers
High throughput automated chromatin immunoprecipitation as a platform for drug screening and antibody validation
Angela R. Wu, Tiara L.A. Kawahara, Nicole A. Rapicavoli, Jan van Riggelen, Emelyn H. Shroff, Liwen Xu, Dean W. Felsher, Howard Y. Chang and Stephen R. Quake
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21290K

A microfluidic device for whole-animal drug screening using electrophysiological measures in the nematode C. elegans
Shawn R. Lockery, S. Elizabeth Hulme, William M. Roberts, Kristin J. Robinson, Anna Laromaine, Theodore H. Lindsay, George M. Whitesides and Janis C. Weeks
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC00001F

Ion diode logics for pH control
Erik O. Gabrielsson, Klas Tybrandt and Magnus Berggren
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40093F

Human gut-on-a-chip inhabited by microbial flora that experiences intestinal peristalsis-like motions and flow
Hyun Jung Kim, Dongeun Huh, Geraldine Hamilton and Donald E. Ingber
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40074J

A multifunctional pipette
Alar Ainla, Gavin D. M. Jeffries, Ralf Brune, Owe Orwar and Aldo Jesorka
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20906C

Visualization of microscale particle focusing in diluted and whole blood using particle trajectory analysis
Eugene J. Lim, Thomas J. Ober, Jon F. Edd, Gareth H. McKinley and Mehmet Toner
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21100A

DNA electrophoresis in a nanofence array
Sung-Gyu Park, Daniel W. Olson and Kevin D. Dorfman
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC00016D

Bipolar electrochemistry for cargo-lifting in fluid channels
Gabriel Loget and Alexander Kuhn
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21301J

Rapid screening of antibiotic toxicity in an automated microdroplet system
Krzysztof Churski, Tomasz S. Kaminski, Slawomir Jakiela, Wojciech Kamysz, Wioletta Baranska-Rybak, Douglas B. Weibel and Piotr Garstecki
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21284F

Dual-electrode microfluidic cell for characterizing electrocatalysts
Ioana Dumitrescu, David F. Yancey and Richard M. Crooks
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21181E

Rapid, sensitive, and multiplexed on-chip optical sensors for micro-gas chromatography
Karthik Reddy, Yunbo Guo, Jing Liu, Wonsuk Lee, Maung Kyaw Khaing Oo and Xudong Fan
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20922E

A silicone-based stretchable micropost array membrane for monitoring live-cell subcellular cytoskeletal response
Jennifer M. Mann, Raymond H. W. Lam, Shinuo Weng, Yubing Sun and Jianping Fu
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20896B

Batch fabrication of disposable screen printed SERS arrays
Lu-Lu Qu, Da-Wei Li, Jin-Qun Xue, Wen-Lei Zhai, John S. Fossey and Yi-Tao Long
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20926H

Bubbles no more: in-plane trapping and removal of bubbles in microfluidic devices
Conrad Lochovsky, Sanjesh Yasotharan and Axel Günther
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20817A

A digital microfluidic method for multiplexed cell-based apoptosis assays
Dario Bogojevic, M. Dean Chamberlain, Irena Barbulovic-Nad and Aaron R. Wheeler
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20893H

Technical Innovation
Three-dimensional microfiber devices that mimic physiological environments to probe cell mechanics and signaling
Warren C. Ruder, Erica D. Pratt, Sasha Bakhru, Metin Sitti, Stefan Zappe, Chao-Min Cheng, James F. Antaki and Philip R. LeDuc
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21117C

We will be adding to this collection throughout the year so keep checking back for more outstanding articles!

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New YouTube videos

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

High-yield cell ordering and deterministic cell-in-droplet encapsulation using Dean flow in a curved microchannel

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Limits of miniaturization: Assessing ITP performance in sub-micron and nanochannels

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In vitro angiogenesis assay for the study of cell-encapsulation therapy

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New YouTube videos

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

A ternary model for double-emulsion formation in a capillary microfluidic device

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A microfluidic “baby machine” for cell synchronization

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Automated analysis of single stem cells in microfluidic traps

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Live cell imaging analysis of the epigenetic regulation of the human endothelial cell migration at single-cell resolution

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Lab on a Chip publishes its 150th issue

This week we’re celebrating our 150th issue at Lab on a Chip. Albert van den Berg, Deputy Chair of our Editorial Board, writes about the journal’s history and its exciting future, in his editorial.

The issue’s front cover features artwork from Kamlesh Patel and colleagues, whose critical review discusses the recent advances in digital microfluidics, focusing on applications for chemistry, biology and medicine. Topics discussed include the use of droplets for chemical synthesis, enzyme assays and the analysis of blood.

Digital microfluidics: a versatile tool for applications in chemistry, biology and medicine
Mais J. Jebrail, Michael S. Bartsch and Kamlesh D. Patel
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40318H


A communication from Yanyi Huang and co-workers demonstrating an integrated microfluidic immunoassay chip for high-throughput sandwich immunoassay tests is featured on the inside front cover.

The authors state the device can perform ELISA measurements in one hour with just 1 μL of sample for four repeats.

High-throughput immunoassay through in-channel microfluidic patterning
Chunhong Zheng, Jingwen Wang, Yuhong Pang, Jianbin Wang, Wenbin Li, Zigang Ge and Yanyi Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40145B


The back cover features artwork from Tony Jun Huang and colleagues, whose paper on acoustic-based tunable patterning demonstrates a technique that can arrange microparticles or cells into arrays using pairs of slanted-finger interdigital transducers.

Tunable patterning of microparticles and cells using standing surface acoustic waves
Xiaoyun Ding, Jinjie Shi, Sz-Chin Steven Lin, Shahrzad Yazdi, Brian Kiraly and Tony Jun Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21021E

Also in this issue is the latest Research highlight from Ali Khademhosseini, and Acoustofluidics 14: Applications of acoustic streaming in microfluidic devices from Martin Wiklund and co-authors.

Read the rest of the issue here.

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A microfluidic ‘baby-machine’ and nanochannels to allow efficient fluorescent analysis of proteins

New HOT articles from Lab on a Chip

Scott Manalis and coworkers at MIT have developed a microfluidic version of the “baby-machine”, a device used to synchronize eukaryotic cells at a specific point in the cell cycle for study of cellular and molecular processes.

The original method which was developed in the 1960s chemically bound cells to a membrane. As they divide one cell remains attached to the membrane and the ‘newborn’ cell is eluted, producing a synchronised population of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle.  However, the method of chemically attaching cells to the membrane is not suitable for all cell types.  Manalis et al have modified this procedure to attach cells by applying pressure differences to capture cells on their microfluidic device, thereby avoiding the use of chemicals that can make cells non-viable.

Read more…
A microfluidic “baby machine” for cell synchronization
Josephine Shaw, Kristofor Payer, Sungmin Son, William H. Grover and Scott R. Manalis
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40277G


Xing-Hua Xia and colleagues at Nanjing University have recently improved on the fluorescent analysis of proteins by utilising the confines of a nanochannel in a microfluidic device.  The nanochannel allows the efficient concentration of proteins and separates labelled proteins from unreacted fluorescent labels due to size.  This removes the need for purification to remove the unreacted dye on an external chromatographic instrument and allows protein concentration, labelling, and purification in continuous manner in one device.

Read more…
Rapid protein concentration, efficient fluorescence labeling and purification on a micro/nanofluidics chip
Chen Wang, Jun Ouyang, De-Kai Ye, Jing-Juan Xu, Hong-Yuan Chen and Xing-Hua Xia
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC20977B

These latest two HOT articles are free to access for 4 weeks following a simple registration for individual users

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Paper and plastic HIV test

African mother and child holding hands

If untreated, the mortality rate of HIV‐infected infants may reach 35% by one year of age, and 53% by two years of age If untreated, the mortality rate of HIV‐infected infants may reach 35% by one year of age, and 53% by two years of age. Sourced from www.shutterstock.com

A DNA test to detect HIV in infants in resource-poor countries is a step closer, thanks to a technique to amplify DNA samples developed by US scientists.

Currently, there are no suitable methods to test for HIV in infants in resource-poor areas. The rapid anti-HIV antibody tests for adults can’t be used for early diagnosis in infants. This is because maternal anti-HIV antibodies persist in infant blood for 18 months after birth, even in HIV-negative infants, resulting in false positives.

Efforts to improve infant HIV tests include analysing DNA extracted from dried blood spot samples using the polymerase chain reaction to amplify the DNA, but this requires expensive equipment and trained technicians. It can also take four weeks to get a results, so for the many patients who aren’t able to return to the clinic, an instant result is more practical.

Now, Brittany Rohrman and Rebecca Richards-Kortum at Rice University, Houston, have made a paper and plastic-based device that can amplify 10 strands of HIV DNA to detectable levels in just 15 minutes using dried blood samples.

See the full article in Chemistry World

 

 

Or read the Lab on a Chip paper:
A paper and plastic device for performing recombinase polymerase amplification of HIV DNA
Brittany Rohrman and Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Lab Chip, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40423K

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Superelastic microsprings & electrical fingerprinting to detect circulating tumor cells in Issue 13

Superelastic metal microsprings as fluidic sensors and actuatorsWork from Yongfeng Mei, Fudan University, and colleagues on developing superelastic microsprings features on the front cover of Issue 13.  The rolled Ti nanomembranes stretch predictably and proportionally due to the drag force in flowing water, and so are potentially useful as sensors in micro-/nano-electromechanical systems.

Superelastic metal microsprings as fluidic sensors and actuators
Weiming Li, Gaoshan Huang, Jiao Wang, Ying Yu, Xiaojing Wu, Xugao Cui and Yongfeng Mei
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2322-2328
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC40151G

The back cover is courtesy of Samir M. Iqbal and coworkers, who have developed a solid micropore device to detect tumour cells.  By pushing cells through the single micropore one at a time cells can be differentiated based on size, elasticity, viscosity and stiffness.

Electrical fingerprinting, 3D profiling and detection of tumor cells with solid-state micropores
Waseem Asghar, Yuan Wan, Azhar Ilyas, Robert Bachoo, Young-tae Kim and Samir M. Iqbal
Lab Chip, 2012, 12, 2345-2352
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC21012F

Also in this issue we have another of our acoustofluidics series which looks at perturbation methods for analysing acoustic streaming and the latest Research highlights article from Ali Khademhosseini.

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