A practical guide for the fabrication of microfluidic devices using glass and silicon

Ciprian Iliescu, Hayden Taylor, Marioara Avram, Jianmin Miao, and Sami Franssila

The authors describe protocols used for fabricating microfluidic devices from glass and silicon. Conventional methods for micropatterning glass and silicon are surveyed, and their limitations discussed. The authors conclude much work needs to be done to develop micro- and nano-fluidic fabrication techniques further and to integrate features with widely ranging length-scales into glass/silicon devices.

Biomicrofluidics 6, 016505 (2012)

A nanoporous optofluidic microsystem for highly sensitive and repeatable surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy detection

Soroush H. Yazdi and Ian M. White

Demonstration of an optofluidic surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) device that leverages a nanoporous microfluidic matrix to improve the SERS detection performance by more than two orders of magnitude as compared to a typical open microfluidic channel.

Biomicrofluidics 6, 014105 (2012)

Electrotaxis of lung cancer cells in ordered three-dimensional scaffolds

Yung-Shin Sun, Shih-Wei Peng, Keng-Hui Lin, and Ji-Yen Cheng

A new method to incorporate 3D scaffold with electrotaxis measurement in the microfluidic device. The electrotactic response of lung cancer cells in the 3D foam scaffolds which resemble the in vivo pulmonary alveoli may give more insight on cellular behaviors in vivo.

Biomicrofluidics 6, 014102 (2012)

Effects of chain stiffness and salt concentration on responses of polyelectrolyte brushes under external electric field

Qianqian Cao, Chuncheng Zuo, Lujuan Li, and Guang Yan

The authors address the effects of salt concentration and chain stiffness on conformational transition and dynamic response of polyelectrolyte brushes under added electric fields. Their results are helpful for the design of soft smart valves in biomimetic nanofluidic channels.

Biomicrofluidics 5, 044119 (2011)

Microwell perfusion array for high-throughput, long-term imaging of clonal growth

Huaying Chen, Jingjing Li, Han Zhang, Musen Li, Gary Rosengarten, and Robert E. Nordon

The goal of this study was to optimize MPA parameters for high throughput clonal analysis of motile cells. This included an assessment of the biocompatibility of the perfusion system (buffers, tubing, cell culture substrates and media degradation), selection of a perfusion protocol, and analysis of the relationship between microwell seeding density and growth rate. Furthermore this study benchmarks the cell imaging system with respect to the number of clones that can be continuously imaged in parallel.

Biomicrofluidics 5, 044117 (2011)