Micro- and nanofluidic systems for high-throughput biological screening

Microfluidics-Based Nanobiosensors for Healthcare Monitoring

Efficient healthcare management demands prompt decision-making based on fast diagnostics tools, astute data analysis, and informatics analysis. The rapid detection of analytes at the point of care is ensured using microfluidics in synergy with nanotechnology and biotechnology. The nanobiosensors use nanotechnology for testing, rapid disease diagnosis, monitoring, and management. In essence, nanobiosensors detect biomolecules through bioreceptors by modulating the physicochemical signals generating an optical and electrical signal as an outcome of the binding of a biomolecule with the help of a transducer. The nanobiosensors are sensitive and selective and play a significant role in the early identification of diseases. This article reviews the detection method used with the microfluidics platform for nanobiosensors and illustrates the benefits of combining microfluidics and nanobiosensing techniques by various examples. The fundamental aspects, and their application are discussed to illustrate the advancement in the development of microfluidics-based nanobiosensors and the current trends of these nano-sized sensors for point-of-care diagnosis of various diseases and their function in healthcare monitoring.

Recent Progress and Challenges on the Microfluidic Assay of Pathogenic Bacteria Using Biosensor Technology

Microfluidic technology is one of the new technologies that has been able to take advantage of the specific properties of micro and nanoliters, and by reducing the costs and duration of tests, it has been widely used in research and treatment in biology and medicine. Different materials are often processed into miniaturized chips containing channels and chambers within the microscale range. This review (containing 117 references) demonstrates the significance and application of nanofluidic biosensing of various pathogenic bacteria. The microfluidic application devices integrated with bioreceptors and advanced nanomaterials, including hyperbranched nano-polymers, carbon-based nanomaterials, hydrogels, and noble metal, was also investigated. In the present review, microfluid methods for the sensitive and selective recognition of photogenic bacteria in various biological matrices are surveyed. Further, the advantages and limitations of recognition methods on the performance and efficiency of microfluidic-based biosensing of photogenic bacteria are critically investigated. Finally, the future perspectives, research opportunities, potential, and prospects on the diagnosis of disease related to pathogenic bacteria based on microfluidic analysis of photogenic bacteria are provided.

Analysis of Phosphatase Activity in a Droplet-Based Microfluidic Chip

We report analysis of phosphatase activity and inhibition on droplet-based microfluidic chips. Phosphatases are such attractive potential drug targets because abnormal phosphatase activity has been implicated in a variety of diseases including cancer, neurological disorders, diabetes, osteoporosis, and obesity. So far, several methods for assessing phosphatase activity have been reported. However, they require a large sample volume and additional chemical modifications such as fluorescent dye conjugation and nanomaterial conjugation, and are not cost-effective. In this study, we used an artificial phosphatase substrate 3-O-methylfluorescein phosphate as a fluorescent reporter and dual specificity phosphatase 22. Using these materials, the phosphatase assay was performed from approximately 340.4 picoliter (pL) droplets generated at a frequency of ~40 hertz (Hz) in a droplet-based microfluidic chip. To evaluate the suitability of droplet-based platform for screening phosphatase inhibitors, a dose–response inhibition study was performed with ethyl-3,4-dephostatin and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) was calculated as 5.79 ± 1.09 μM. The droplet-based results were compared to microplate-based experiments, which showed agreement. The droplet-based phosphatase assay proposed here is simple, reproducible, and generates enormous data sets within the limited sample and reagent volumes.

The impact of microfluidics in high-throughput drug-screening applications

Drug discovery is an expensive and lengthy process. Among the different phases, drug discovery and preclinical trials play an important role as only 5-10 of all drugs that begin preclinical tests proceed to clinical trials. Indeed, current high-throughput screening technologies are very expensive, as they are unable to dispense small liquid volumes in an accurate and quick way. Moreover, despite being simple and fast, drug screening assays are usually performed under static conditions, thus failing to recapitulate tissue-specific architecture and biomechanical cues present in vivo even in the case of 3D models. On the contrary, microfluidics might offer a more rapid and cost-effective alternative. Although considered incompatible with high-throughput systems for years, technological advancements have demonstrated how this gap is rapidly reducing. In this Review, we want to further outline the role of microfluidics in high-throughput drug screening applications by looking at the multiple strategies for cell seeding, compartmentalization, continuous flow, stimuli administration (e.g., drug gradients or shear stresses), and single-cell analyses.

Micro and nanofluidics for high throughput drug screening

In this book chapter, we elaborate on the state-of-the-art technology developments in high throughput screening, microfluidics and nanofluidics. This book chapter further elaborated on the application of microfluidics and nanofluidics for high throughput drug screening with respect to communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases such as cancer. As a future perspective, there is tremendous potential for microfluidics and nanofluidics to be applied in high throughput drug screening which could be applied for various biotechnology applications such as in cancer precision medicine, point-of-care diagnostics and imaging. With the integration of Fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies with micro and nanofluidics technologies, it envisioned that such integration along with digital health would enable next generation technology development in medical field.

Multi-Organs-on-Chips for Testing Small-Molecule Drugs: Challenges and Perspectives

Organ-on-a-chip technology has been used in testing small-molecule drugs for screening potential therapeutics and regulatory protocols. The technology is expected to boost the development of novel therapies and accelerate the discovery of drug combinations in the coming years. This has led to the development of multi-organ-on-a-chip (MOC) for recapitulating various organs involved in the drug-body interactions. In this review, we discuss the current MOCs used in screening small-molecule drugs and then focus on the dynamic process of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. We also address appropriate materials used for MOCs at low cost and scale-up capacity suitable for high-performance analysis of drugs and commercial high-throughput screening platforms.

Autonomous capillary microfluidic devices with constant flow rate and temperature-controlled valving

In this paper, we report on a capillary microfluidic device with constant flow rate and temperature-triggered stop valve function. It contains a PDMS channel that was grafted by a thermo-responsive polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm). The channel exhibits a constant capillary filling speed. By locally increasing the temperature in the channel from 20 °C to 37 °C using a microfabricated heater, a change of the surface wettability from hydrophilic to hydrophobic is obtained creating a hydrophobic stop valve. The valve can be reopened by lowering the temperature. The device is simple to fabricate and can be used as an actuatable capillary pump operating around room temperature. To understand the constant capillary filling speed, we performed contact angle measurements, in which we found slow wetting kinetics of PNIPAm-g-PDMS surfaces at temperatures below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PNIPAm and fast wetting kinetics above the LCST. We interpret this as the result of the diffusive hydration process of PNIPAm below the LCST and the absence of hydration on the hydrophobic PNIPAm thin layer above the LCST.

Possibility of making aerophobic surfaces by nanoprotrusions: an investigation of atomic-scale friction of the air-solid interfaces

Emerging, new atomic-scale fabrication methods have enabled scientists to design and manufacture nanostructured devices for the investigation and application of nanoscale regimes in fluid mechanics. One of the most significant goals in designing these devices is finding an efficient way to reduce the friction of the fluid flow in/on the nanochannels and surfaces. Herein, a set of surfaces with various engineered nanoscale roughnesses (nanoprotrusions) was designed. In addition, a triple point charge/mass model of air molecules was developed based on realistic physicochemical characteristics. All-atom, non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were employed to evaluate the atomic interaction of airflow/solid surfaces for various conditions, such as different fluid velocity, surface material, and geometry of nanoscale roughness. Our results show that there is a significant difference (more than six times) between the fluid/surface interaction energy for graphene and silicone surfaces. However, the interaction energy of the fluid/solid interface does not vary for atomic-scale roughnesses (<10 nm). Our results indicate that for solid surfaces coated by few-layer graphene in high Reynolds (supersonic) regimes, the outer graphene layers are confronted with delamination due to the high shear stress of airflow, which is a serious problem for the structure's strength and durability. We suggest that our computational findings shed light on designing aerophobic surface coatings in a wide range of applications, from nanodevices to conventional aircraft.

Taming the thermodiffusion of alkali halide solutions in silica nanopores

Thermal fields give rise to thermal coupling phenomena, such as mass and charge fluxes, which are useful in energy recovery applications and nanofluidic devices for pumping, mixing or desalination. Here we use state of the art non-equilibrium molecular simulations to quantify the thermodiffusion of alkali halide solutions, LiCl and NaCl, confined in silica nanopores, targeting diameters of the order of those found in mesoporous silica nanostructures. We show that nanoconfinement modifies the thermodiffusion behaviour of the solution. Under confinement conditions, the solutions become more thermophilic, with a preference to accumulate at hot sources, or thermoneutral, with the thermodiffusion being inhibited. Our work highlights the importance of nanoconfinement in thermodiffusion and outlines strategies to tune mass transport at the nanoscale, using thermal fields.

Microsystems for biofilm characterization and sensing - A review

Biofilms are the primary cause of clinical bacterial infections and are impervious to typical amounts of antibiotics, necessitating very high doses for elimination. Therefore, it is imperative to have suitable methods for characterization to develop novel methods of treatment that can complement or replace existing approaches using significantly lower doses of antibiotics. This review presents some of the current developments in microsystems for characterization and sensing of bacterial biofilms. Initially, we review current standards for studying biofilms that are based on invasive and destructive end-point biofilm characterization. Additionally, biofilm formation and growth is extremely sensitive to various growth and environmental parameters that cause large variability in biofilms between repeated experiments, making it very difficult to compare experimental repeats and characterize the temporal characteristics of these organisms. To address these challenges, recent developments in the field have moved toward systems and miniature devices that can aid in the non-invasive characterization of bacterial biofilms. Our review focuses on several types of microsystems for biofilm evaluation including optical, electrochemical, and mechanical systems. This review will show how these devices can lead to better understanding of the physiology and function of these communities of bacteria, which can eventually lead to the development of novel treatments that do not rely on high-dosage antibiotics.

Different approaches for transformation of mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocyte-like cells

Due to the prominent role of the liver in the body and detoxification, its functionality can be affected in an irreversible manner by diseases. This phenomenon renders the liver to stop working, leading to morbidity and mortality. Therefore, liver transplantation is the only way to tackle this issue.In order to compensate for the lack of adequate healthy liver tissue for transplantation, therapeutic approaches such as hepatocyte transplantation have been proposed as an alternative. Recognizing the fact that mesenchymal stem cells are adult stem cells with the capacity to differentiate into several cell types, different methods have been invented to produce hepatocyte-like cells from mesenchymal stem cells. They can be divided into three main categories, such as addition of cytokines and growth factors, genetic modifications, and adjustment of microenvironment as well as physical parameters.In this review, we attempted to introduce diverse efficient methods for differentiating mesenchymal stem cells and their capability for transformation into hepatocyte-like cells.

Engineered protein-based functional nanopatterned materials for bio-optical devices

The development of new active biocompatible materials and devices is a current need for their implementation in multiple fields, including the fabrication of implantable devices for biomedical applications and sustainable devices for bio-optics and bio-optoelectronics. This paper describes a simple strategy to use designed proteins to develop protein-based functional materials. Using simple proteins as self-assembling building blocks as a platform for the fabrication of new optically active materials takes previous work one step further towards the design of materials with defined structures and functions using naturally occurring protein materials, such as silk. The proposed fabrication strategy generates thin and flexible nanopatterned protein films by letting the engineered protein elements self-assemble over the surface of an elastomeric stamp with nanoscale features. These nanopatterned protein films are easily transferred onto 3D objects (flat and curved) by moisture-induced adhesion. Additionally, flexible nanopatterned protein films are prepared by incorporating a thin polymeric layer as a back support. Finally, taking advantage of the tunability of the selected protein scaffold, the flexible protein-based surfaces are endowed with optical functions, achieving efficient lasing features. As such, this work enables the simple and cost-effective production of flexible and nanostructured, protein-based, optically active biomaterials and devices over large areas toward emerging applications.

Coupling Microfluidic Platforms, Microfabrication, and Tissue Engineered Scaffolds to Investigate Tumor Cells Mechanobiology

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is composed of dynamic and complex networks composed of matrix substrates, extracellular matrix (ECM), non-malignant cells, and tumor cells. The TME is in constant evolution during the disease progression, most notably through gradual stiffening of the stroma. Within the tumor, increased ECM stiffness drives tumor growth and metastatic events. However, classic in vitro strategies to study the TME in cancer lack the complexity to fully replicate the TME. The quest to understand how the mechanical, geometrical, and biochemical environment of cells impacts their behavior and fate has been a major force driving the recent development of new technologies in cell biology research. Despite rapid advances in this field, many challenges remain in order to bridge the gap between the classical culture dish and the biological reality of actual tissue. Microfabrication coupled with microfluidic approaches aim to engineer the actual complexity of the TME. Moreover, TME bioengineering allows artificial modulations with single or multiple cues to study different phenomena occurring in vivo. Some innovative cutting-edge tools and new microfluidic approaches could have an important impact on the fields of biology and medicine by bringing deeper understanding of the TME, cell behavior, and drug effects.

Cancer-on-a-chip for Drug Screening

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The oncology pharmaceutical research spent a shocking amount of money on target validation and drug optimization in preclinical models because many oncology drugs fail during clinical trial phase III. One of the most important reasons for oncology drug failures in clinical trials may due to the poor predictive tool of existing preclinical models. Therefore, in cancer research and personalized medicine field, it is critical to improve the effectiveness of preclinical predictions of the drug response of patients to therapies and to reduce costly failures in clinical trials. Three dimensional (3D) tumor models combine micro-manufacturing technologies mimic critical physiologic parameters present in vivo, including complex multicellular architecture with multicellular arrangement and extracellular matrix deposition, packed 3D structures with cell–cell interactions, such as tight junctions, barriers to mass transport of drugs, nutrients and other factors, which are similar to in vivo tumor tissues. These systems provide a solution to mimic the physiological environment for improving predictive accuracy in oncology drug discovery.

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his review gives an overview of the innovations, development and limitations of different types of tumor-like construction techniques such as self-assemble spheroid formation, spheroids formation by micro-manufacturing technologies, micro-dissected tumor tissues and tumor organoid. Combination of 3D tumor-like construction and microfluidic techniques to achieve tumor on a chip for in vitro tumor environment modeling and drug screening were all included. Eventually, developmental directions and technical challenges in the research field are also discussed. We believe tumor on chip models have provided better sufficient clinical predictive power and will bridge the gap between proof-of-concept studies and a wider implementation within the oncology drug development for pathophysiological applications.

Dynamic Culture and Selective Extraction of Target Microbial Cells in Self-Assembled Particle Membrane-Integrated Microfluidic Bioreactor Array

Various microfluidic devices have overcome many disadvantages common to conventional bioreactor systems by enabling active manipulation of cell-culture conditions, monitoring of cellular responses in high-throughput mode, and extraction of target cells in a relatively rapid and low-cost manner. However, existing microfluidic devices still have limitations, including the complexity of their operation and a lack of availability of dynamic control of the chemical environment. Here, we present a novel microfluidic bioreactor array device capable of not only the stable and dynamic programing of cell-culture environments but also the selective extraction of target cells. This device comprises 64 microchambers in a 16 × 4 array format, and each microchamber is integrated with a robust and nanoporous membrane on one side and an H-shaped entrance on the other. The membrane made of self-assembled particles allowed continuous and sequential delivery of various nutrients containing gene inducers to compartmentalized microbial cells, thereby enabling dynamic cell culturing. Additionally, the H-shaped entrance was used for local and selective blocking of the microchamber by employing UV-curable material, thereby enabling the retrieval of target cells from the device while sequestering nontarget cells in the microchambers. Our results demonstrated that the targeted rare cells could be isolated and separated from a mixture of cells by repeating the extraction procedure. Therefore, we anticipate that this microfluidic bioreactor array device will be widely used for not only screening/extraction but also off-chip postanalyses of various microorganisms.

Microfluidic Single-Cell Manipulation and Analysis: Methods and Applications

In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. Similarly, no two cells in a genetically identical group are the same. This heterogeneity at the single-cell level has been recognized to be vital for the correct interpretation of diagnostic and therapeutic results of diseases, but has been masked for a long time by studying average responses from a population. To comprehensively understand cell heterogeneity, diverse manipulation and comprehensive analysis of cells at the single-cell level are demanded. However, using traditional biological tools, such as petri-dishes and well-plates, is technically challengeable for manipulating and analyzing single-cells with small size and low concentration of target biomolecules. With the development of microfluidics, which is a technology of manipulating and controlling fluids in the range of micro- to pico-liters in networks of channels with dimensions from tens to hundreds of microns, single-cell study has been blooming for almost two decades. Comparing to conventional petri-dish or well-plate experiments, microfluidic single-cell analysis offers advantages of higher throughput, smaller sample volume, automatic sample processing, and lower contamination risk, etc., which made microfluidics an ideal technology for conducting statically meaningful single-cell research. In this review, we will summarize the advances of microfluidics for single-cell manipulation and analysis from the aspects of methods and applications. First, various methods, such as hydrodynamic and electrical approaches, for microfluidic single-cell manipulation will be summarized. Second, single-cell analysis ranging from cellular to genetic level by using microfluidic technology is summarized. Last, we will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various microfluidic methods for single-cell manipulation, and then outlook the trend of microfluidic single-cell analysis.

3D Biomimetic Chips for Cancer Cell Migration in Nanometer-Sized Spaces Using "Ship-in-a-Bottle" Femtosecond Laser Processing

Cancer cells undergo dramatic morphology changes when migrating in confined spaces narrower than their diameter during metastasis, and thus it is necessary to understand the deformation mechanism and associated molecular events in order to study tumor progression. To this end, we propose a new biochip with three-dimensional (3D) polymer nanostructures in a closed glass microfluidic chip. "Ship-in-a-bottle" femtosecond laser processing is an exclusive technique to flexibly create 3D small details in biochips. The wavefront correction by the spatial light modulator significantly improves the fabrication resolution of this technique. The device could then accommodate defect-free 3D biomimetic nanoconfigurations for the evaluation of prostate cancer cell migration in confined spaces. Specifically, polymeric channels with widths of ∼900 nm, which is more than one order of magnitude smaller than the cell size, are integrated by femtosecond laser inside glass channels. The cells are responsive to an in-channel gradient of epidermal growth factor and can migrate a distance greater than 20 μm. After migration, the cells suffer partial cytokinesis, followed by fusion of the divided parts back into single cell bodies.

A power-free, parallel loading microfluidic reactor array for biochemical screening

This paper presents a power-free, self-contained microfluidic device in which a number of nanoliter-sized droplets can be parallelly and accurately metered and mixed for high-throughput analysis and/or portable systems. In this system, the absorption of air by pre-degassed PDMS and the change of capillary force due to sudden narrowing of the channel cross-section provide the mechanism for actuating, metering and mixing the flow of fluid in the microfluidic channels and chambers. With an array of channels and capillary valves combined with an array of pre-degassed PDMS pump chambers, the device can perform multiple liquid dispensing and mixing in parallel, and its performance and reproducibility are also evaluated. As a practical application, the proposed device is used to screen crystallization conditions of lysozyme. This device needs neither external power nor complex instruments for fluid handling. Thus, it offers an easy-to-use, inexpensive and power-free way to perform multiple nanoliter-volume distinct reactions in parallel format and should be ideally suitable for individual laboratories for various applications such as enzyme assay, protein crystallization, drug discovery, and combinatorial chemistry.

High-Throughput Incubation and Quantification of Agglutination Assays in a Microfluidic System

In this paper, we present a two-phase microfluidic system capable of incubating and quantifying microbead-based agglutination assays. The microfluidic system is based on a simple fabrication solution, which requires only laboratory tubing filled with carrier oil, driven by negative pressure using a syringe pump. We provide a user-friendly interface, in which a pipette is used to insert single droplets of a 1.25-µL volume into a system that is continuously running and therefore works entirely on demand without the need for stopping, resetting or washing the system. These assays are incubated by highly efficient passive mixing with a sample-to-answer time of 2.5 min, a 5⁻10-fold improvement over traditional agglutination assays. We study system parameters such as channel length, incubation time and flow speed to select optimal assay conditions, using the streptavidin-biotin interaction as a model analyte quantified using optical image processing. We then investigate the effect of changing the concentration of both analyte and microbead concentrations, with a minimum detection limit of 100 ng/mL. The system can be both low- and high-throughput, depending on the rate at which assays are inserted. In our experiments, we were able to easily produce throughputs of 360 assays per hour by simple manual pipetting, which could be increased even further by automation and parallelization. Agglutination assays are a versatile tool, capable of detecting an ever-growing catalog of infectious diseases, proteins and metabolites. A system such as this one is a step towards being able to produce high-throughput microfluidic diagnostic solutions with widespread adoption. The development of analytical techniques in the microfluidic format, such as the one presented in this work, is an important step in being able to continuously monitor the performance and microfluidic outputs of organ-on-chip devices.

Electrically Guided DNA Immobilization and Multiplexed DNA Detection with Nanoporous Gold Electrodes

Molecular diagnostics have significantly advanced the early detection of diseases, where the electrochemical sensing of biomarkers (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins) using multiple electrode arrays (MEAs) has shown considerable promise. Nanostructuring the electrode surface results in higher surface coverage of capture probes and more favorable orientation, as well as transport phenomena unique to nanoscale, ultimately leading to enhanced sensor performance. The central goal of this study is to investigate the influence of electrode nanostructure on electrically-guided immobilization of DNA probes for nucleic acid detection in a multiplexed format. To that end, we used nanoporous gold (np-Au) electrodes that reduced the limit of detection (LOD) for DNA targets by two orders of magnitude compared to their planar counterparts, where the LOD was further improved by an additional order of magnitude after reducing the electrode diameter. The reduced electrode diameter also made it possible to create a np-Au MEA encapsulated in a microfluidic channel. The electro-grafting reduced the necessary incubation time to immobilize DNA probes into the porous electrodes down to 10 min (25-fold reduction compared to passive immobilization) and allowed for grafting a different DNA probe sequence onto each electrode in the array. The resulting platform was successfully used for the multiplexed detection of three different biomarker genes relevant to breast cancer diagnosis.

High-Throughput Optofluidic Acquisition of Microdroplets in Microfluidic Systems

Droplet optofluidics technology aims at manipulating the tiny volume of fluids confined in micro-droplets with light, while exploiting their interaction to create "digital" micro-systems with highly significant scientific and technological interests. Manipulating droplets with light is particularly attractive since the latter provides wavelength and intensity tunability, as well as high temporal and spatial resolution. In this review study, we focus mainly on recent methods developed in order to monitor real-time analysis of droplet size and size distribution, active merging of microdroplets using light, or to use microdroplets as optical probes.

Multifunctional, inexpensive, and reusable nanoparticle-printed biochip for cell manipulation and diagnosis

Isolation and characterization of rare cells and molecules from a heterogeneous population is of critical importance in diagnosis of common lethal diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and cancer. For the developing world, point-of-care (POC) diagnostics design must account for limited funds, modest public health infrastructure, and low power availability. To address these challenges, here we integrate microfluidics, electronics, and inkjet printing to build an ultra-low-cost, rapid, and miniaturized lab-on-a-chip (LOC) platform. This platform can perform label-free and rapid single-cell capture, efficient cellular manipulation, rare-cell isolation, selective analytical separation of biological species, sorting, concentration, positioning, enumeration, and characterization. The miniaturized format allows for small sample and reagent volumes. By keeping the electronics separate from microfluidic chips, the former can be reused and device lifetime is extended. Perhaps most notably, the device manufacturing is significantly less expensive, time-consuming, and complex than traditional LOC platforms, requiring only an inkjet printer rather than skilled personnel and clean-room facilities. Production only takes 20 min (vs. up to weeks) and $0.01-an unprecedented cost in clinical diagnostics. The platform works based on intrinsic physical characteristics of biomolecules (e.g., size and polarizability). We demonstrate biomedical applications and verify cell viability in our platform, whose multiplexing and integration of numerous steps and external analyses enhance its application in the clinic, including by nonspecialists. Through its massive cost reduction and usability we anticipate that our platform will enable greater access to diagnostic facilities in developed countries as well as POC diagnostics in resource-poor and developing countries.

Numerical Study of the Electrothermal Effect on the Kinetic Reaction of Immunoassays for a Microfluidic Biosensor

In this work, we simulate the binding reaction of C-reactive protein in a microchannel of a biosensor. A problem that arises in this device concerns the transport of the analyte toward the reaction surface of the biosensor, which is of a very small dimension. The limitation of mass transport causes the formation of a diffusion boundary layer and restrains the whole kinetic reaction. To enhance the performance of the biosensor by improving the transport, an applied AC electric field and flow confinement are used to stir the flow field. The numerical simulation of these mechanisms on the binding reaction is performed using the finite element method. Swirling patterns are generated in the fluid. They enhance the transport of the analyte and confine it near the reaction surface. The location of the electrode pair on the walls of the microchannel for the design of the biosensor has been studied to find out the effects of varying geometric configurations on the binding efficiency. The best performances of the biosensor are obtained when the electrodes are placed on the same wall of the microchannel as the reaction surface. For the best case, under the effect of the applied electric field alone, the enhancement factors raise up to 2.46 and 2.10 for the association and dissociation phases, respectively. By contrast, under the effect of the electric field with flow confinement, the enhancement factors for the association and the dissociation phases jump to 3.43 and 2.97, respectively, for 30:1 flow confinement (ratio of confining to sample flow).

Screening of Lipid Composition for Scalable Fabrication of Solvent-Free Lipid Microarrays

Liquid microdroplet arrays on surfaces are a promising approach to the miniaturization of laboratory processes such as high-throughput screening. The fluid nature of these droplets poses unique challenges and opportunities in their fabrication and application, particularly for the scalable integration of multiple materials over large areas and immersion into cell culture solution. Here, we use pin spotting and nanointaglio printing to screen a library of lipids and their mixtures for their compatibility with these fabrication processes, as well as stability upon immersion into aqueous solution. More than 200 combinations of natural and synthetic oils composed of fatty acids, triglycerides, and hydrocarbons were tested for their pin-spotting and nanointaglio print quality and their ability to contain the fluorescent compound tetramethylrhodamine B isothiocyanate (TRITC) upon immersion in water. A combination of castor oil and hexanoic acid at the ratio of 1:1 (w/w) was found optimal for producing reproducible patterns that are stable upon immersion into water. This method is capable of large-scale nanomaterials integration.

Large Scale Flow-Mediated Formation and Potential Applications of Surface Nanodroplets

Microscopic droplets located on a solid substrate in contact with an immiscible liquid promise a broad range of applications in miniaturized analytical techniques, fabrication of antireflective coatings, high-resolution near-field imaging techniques, and many others. A simple method of producing oil nanodroplets with desirable morphology is a bottom-up approach called solvent exchange, where nanodroplets nucleate and grow, as a good solvent of oil is displaced by a poor solvent. In this work, we have achieved the production of surface nanodroplets over a large surface area on planar or curved surfaces, guided by the principles of the solvent exchange. The droplet size is uniform over the entire surface of a planar or curved substrate and tunable. The production rate is extremely high at 10(6) nanodroplets per second. This advance in the nanodroplet production provides a general platform for droplet-based applications. Here we demonstrate that the application of surface nanodroplets in microextraction of hydrophobic solute (dye) from its highly diluted aqueous solution and in situ detection of the dye in a simple process, and in fabrication of highly ordered array of microlens arrays and polymer-capped microstructures by simple processes.

Large-scale image-based screening and profiling of cellular phenotypes

Cellular phenotypes are observable characteristics of cells resulting from the interactions of intrinsic and extrinsic chemical or biochemical factors. Image-based phenotypic screens under large numbers of basal or perturbed conditions can be used to study the influences of these factors on cellular phenotypes. Hundreds to thousands of phenotypic descriptors can also be quantified from the images of cells under each of these experimental conditions. Therefore, huge amounts of data can be generated, and the analysis of these data has become a major bottleneck in large-scale phenotypic screens. Here, we review current experimental and computational methods for large-scale image-based phenotypic screens. Our focus is on phenotypic profiling, a computational procedure for constructing quantitative and compact representations of cellular phenotypes based on the images collected in these screens. © 2016 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Nanoscale bio-platforms for living cell interrogation: current status and future perspectives

The living cell is a complex entity that dynamically responds to both intracellular and extracellular environments. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the understanding intracellular functions orchestrated with mRNAs and proteins in investigation of the fate of a single-cell, including proliferation, apoptosis, motility, differentiation and mutations. The rapid development of modern cellular analysis techniques (e.g. PCR, western blotting, immunochemistry, etc.) offers new opportunities in quantitative analysis of RNA/protein expression up to a single cell level. The recent entries of nanoscale platforms that include kinds of methodologies with high spatial and temporal resolution have been widely employed to probe the living cells. In this tutorial review paper, we give insight into background introduction and technical innovation of currently reported nanoscale platforms for living cell interrogation. These highlighted technologies are documented in details within four categories, including nano-biosensors for label-free detection of living cells, nanodevices for living cell probing by intracellular marker delivery, high-throughput platforms towards clinical current, and the progress of microscopic imaging platforms for cell/tissue tracking in vitro and in vivo. Perspectives for system improvement were also discussed to solve the limitations remains in current techniques, for the purpose of clinical use in future.

DNA Microarray-Based Diagnostics

The DNA microarray technology is currently a useful biomedical tool which has been developed for a variety of diagnostic applications. However, the development pathway has not been smooth and the technology has faced some challenges. The reliability of the microarray data and also the clinical utility of the results in the early days were criticized. These criticisms added to the severe competition from other techniques, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), impacting the growth of microarray-based tests in the molecular diagnostic market.Thanks to the advances in the underlying technologies as well as the tremendous effort offered by the research community and commercial vendors, these challenges have mostly been addressed. Nowadays, the microarray platform has achieved sufficient standardization and method validation as well as efficient probe printing, liquid handling and signal visualization. Integration of various steps of the microarray assay into a harmonized and miniaturized handheld lab-on-a-chip (LOC) device has been a goal for the microarray community. In this respect, notable progress has been achieved in coupling the DNA microarray with the liquid manipulation microsystem as well as the supporting subsystem that will generate the stand-alone LOC device.In this chapter, we discuss the major challenges that microarray technology has faced in its almost two decades of development and also describe the solutions to overcome the challenges. In addition, we review the advancements of the technology, especially the progress toward developing the LOC devices for DNA diagnostic applications.

The oxygen reduction reaction at the three-phase boundary: nanoelectrodes modified with Ag nanoclusters

Silver nanoclusters are deposited on bifunctional Θ-shaped nanoelectrodes consisting of a carbon nanoelectrode combined with a hollow nanopipette. The Θ-nanoelectrodes are used as model systems to study interfacial mass transport in gas diffusion electrodes and in particular oxygen-depolarized cathodes (ODC) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in chlor-alkali electrolysers. By local delivery of O₂ gas to the electroactive Ag nanoclusters through the adjacent nanopipette, enhanced currents for the ORR at the Ag nanoparticles are recorded which are not accountable when considering the low solubility and slow diffusion of O₂ in highly alkaline media. Instead, local oversaturation of O₂ leads to current enhancement at the Ag nanoclusters. Due to the intrinsic high mass transport rates at the nanometric electrodes accompanied by local delivery of reactants, the method generally allows to study electrochemical reactions at single nanoparticles beyond the limitations induced by slow diffusion and low reactant concentration. Kinetic and mechanistic information, for instance derived from Tafel slopes, can be obtained from kinetic regimes not accessible to standard techniques.

Spontaneous Pattern Formation of Surface Nanodroplets from Competitive Growth

Nanoscale droplets on a substrate are of great interest because of their relevance for droplet-based technologies for light manipulation, lab-on-chip devices, miniaturized reactors, encapsulation, and many others. In this work, we establish a basic principle for symmetrical arrangements of surface nanodroplets during their growth out of oversaturated solution established through solvent exchange, which takes place under simple and controlled flow conditions. In our model system, nanodroplets nucleate at the rim of spherical cap microstructures on a substrate, due to a pulse of oversaturation supplied by a solvent exchange process. We find that, while growing at the rim of the microcap, the nanodroplets self-organize into highly symmetric arrangements, with respect to position, size, and mutual distance. The angle between the neighboring droplets is 4 times the ratio between the base radii of the droplets and the spherical caps. We show and explain how the nanodroplets acquire the symmetrical spatial arrangement during their competitive growth and why and how the competition enhances the overall growth rate of the nucleated nanodroplets. This mechanism behind the nanodroplet self-organization promises a simple approach to control the location of droplets with a volume down to attoliters.

Microfluidics Integrated Biosensors: A Leading Technology towards Lab-on-a-Chip and Sensing Applications

A biosensor can be defined as a compact analytical device or unit incorporating a biological or biologically derived sensitive recognition element immobilized on a physicochemical transducer to measure one or more analytes. Microfluidic systems, on the other hand, provide throughput processing, enhance transport for controlling the flow conditions, increase the mixing rate of different reagents, reduce sample and reagents volume (down to nanoliter), increase sensitivity of detection, and utilize the same platform for both sample preparation and detection. In view of these advantages, the integration of microfluidic and biosensor technologies provides the ability to merge chemical and biological components into a single platform and offers new opportunities for future biosensing applications including portability, disposability, real-time detection, unprecedented accuracies, and simultaneous analysis of different analytes in a single device. This review aims at representing advances and achievements in the field of microfluidic-based biosensing. The review also presents examples extracted from the literature to demonstrate the advantages of merging microfluidic and biosensing technologies and illustrate the versatility that such integration promises in the future biosensing for emerging areas of biological engineering, biomedical studies, point-of-care diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and precision agriculture.

Gravitational Effect on the Formation of Surface Nanodroplets

Nanoscale droplets at a solid-liquid interface are of high relevance for many fundamental phenomena and applied processes. The solvent exchange process is a simple approach to produce, e.g., oil nanodroplets over a large surface area on a substrate, by exchange oil-saturated ethanol by oil-saturated water, which has a lower oil solubility than ethanol. In this process, the size of the nanodroplets is closely related to the flow conditions. To achieve control of the droplet size, it is essential to fully understand the nucleation and growth of nanodroplets under different flow conditions. In this work, we investigate the gravitational effect on the droplet formation by the solvent exchange. We compared the droplet size as the substrate was placed on the upper or lower wall in a horizontal fluid channel or on the sides of a vertical channel with an upward or downward flow. We found significant difference in the droplet size for the three substrate positions in a wide channel with height h = 0.21 mm. The difference of droplet size was eliminated in a narrow channel with height h = 0.07 mm. The relevant dimensional control parameter for the occurrence of the gravitational effects is the Archimedes number Ar and these two heights correspond to Ar = 10 and Ar = 0.35, respectively. The gravitational effects lead to a nonsymmetric parabolic profile of the mixing front, with the velocity maximum being off-center and thus with different distances α(Ar)h and (1 - α(Ar))h to the lower and upper wall, respectively. The ratio of the total droplet volume on the lower and upper wall is theoretically found to be (α(Ar)/(1 - α(Ar)))(3). This study thus improves our understanding of the mechanism of the solvent exchange process, providing guidelines for tailoring the volume of surface nanodroplets.

Microfluidics for cell-based high throughput screening platforms - A review

In the last decades, the basic techniques of microfluidics for the study of cells such as cell culture, cell separation, and cell lysis, have been well developed. Based on cell handling techniques, microfluidics has been widely applied in the field of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), immunoassays, organ-on-chip, stem cell research, and analysis and identification of circulating tumor cells. As a major step in drug discovery, high-throughput screening allows rapid analysis of thousands of chemical, biochemical, genetic or pharmacological tests in parallel. In this review, we summarize the application of microfluidics in cell-based high throughput screening. The screening methods mentioned in this paper include approaches using the perfusion flow mode, the droplet mode, and the microarray mode. We also discuss the future development of microfluidic based high throughput screening platform for drug discovery.

On-demand in situ generation of oxygen in a nanofluidic embedded planar microband electrochemical reactor

In situ generation of reagents and their subsequent use downstream presents new opportunities to amplify the utility of nanofluidic devices by exploiting the confined geometry to address mass transport limitations on reaction kinetics and efficiency. Oxygen, an inherently valuable reactant, can be produced from electrolysis of water, a process that can be conveniently integrated within a nanofluidic system. Here, we construct and characterize a nanofluidic device consisting of a planar microband electrode embedded within a nanochannel for in situ electrochemical generation and optical monitoring of O₂. Fluorescein, a dye with a pH-sensitive emission intensity, was used to monitor the spatiotemporal characteristics of the oxidation of H₂O, using the co-produced H⁺. Application of anodic potentials at the nanochannel-embedded electrode results in a decrease in fluorescence intensity, which reflects the decreasing solution pH. A combination of fluorescence intensity and chronoamperometric response was used to quantitatively determine proton generation, and the H⁺/O₂ stoichiometry was then used to determine the concentration of the O₂ in the channel. Comparison of the experimental results to finite element simulations validates the use of fluorescein emission intensity to spectroscopically determine the local oxygen concentration in the nanochannel. By varying the applied potential, spatially averaged O₂ concentrations ranging from 0.13 to 0.41 mM were generated. The results demonstrate a convenient route to in situ modulation of the dissolved O₂ level in a nanofluidic device and the use of an optical probe to monitor its spatial and temporal distribution under flow conditions.

Drug cytotoxicity and signaling pathway analysis with three-dimensional tumor spheroids in a microwell-based microfluidic chip for drug screening

Currently, there has been a growing need for developing in vitro models to better reflect organism response to chemotherapy at tissue level. For this reason, a microfluidic platform was developed for mimicking physiological microenvironment of solid tumor with multicellular tumor spheroids (MTS) for anticancer drug screening. Importantly, the power of this system over traditional systems is that it is simple to operate and high integration in a more physiologically relevant context. As a proof of concept, long-term MTS cultures with uniform structure were realized on the microfluidic based platform. The response of doxorubicin and paclitaxel on different types of spheroids were simultaneously performed by in situ Live/Dead fluorescence stain to provide spatial distribution of dead cells as well as cytotoxicity information. In addition, the established platform combined with microplate reader was capable to determine the cytotoxicity of different sized MTS, showing a more powerful tool than cell staining examination at the end-point of assay. The HCT116 spheroids were then lysed on chip followed by signaling transduction pathway analysis. To our knowledge, the on chip drug screening study is the first to address the drug susceptibility testing and the offline detailed drug signaling pathway analysis combination on one system. Thus, this novel microfluidic platform provides a useful tool for drug screening with tumor spheroids, which is crucial for drug discovery and development.

Mechanisms, Capabilities, and Applications of High-Resolution Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing

This review gives an overview of techniques used for high-resolution jet printing that rely on electrohydrodynamically induced flows. Such methods enable the direct, additive patterning of materials with a resolution that can extend below 100 nm to provide unique opportunities not only in scientific studies but also in a range of applications that includes printed electronics, tissue engineering, and photonic and plasmonic devices. Following a brief historical perspective, this review presents descriptions of the underlying processes involved in the formation of liquid cones and jets to establish critical factors in the printing process. Different printing systems that share similar principles are then described, along with key advances that have been made in the last decade. Capabilities in terms of printable materials and levels of resolution are reviewed, with a strong emphasis on areas of potential application.

Research highlights: surface-based microfluidic control

Microfluidic systems are often dominated by their surfaces because of the high surface area to volume ratios in microchannel flows or drop-based systems. Here we highlight recent work on engineering and exploiting surface effects to control the formation and motion of microdrops. We highlight work using precisely microstructured wetting surfaces to repel all manner of liquids even when the liquid-air surface tension is low. In a second paper, selective capillary filling and draining is used to pattern liquid and cell-laden gels for 3D culture. A final paper making use of vapor-driven surface tension effects to drive the motion of drop ensembles is also examined, exploring a new mechanism for drop control - including motion and merging. Surface-driven motion and patterning has been a widely successful area in microfluidics (e.g. electrowetting or patterned self-assembled monolayers) and recent work is extending into new directions that, once well-understood, should enable new applications.

Capillarity Guided Patterning of Microliquids

Soft lithography and other techniques have been developed to investigate biological and chemical phenomena as an alternative to photolithography-based patterning methods that have compatibility problems. Here, a simple approach for nonlithographic patterning of liquids and gels inside microchannels is described. Using a design that incorporates strategically placed microstructures inside the channel, microliquids or gels can be spontaneously trapped and patterned when the channel is drained. The ability to form microscale patterns inside microfluidic channels using simple fluid drain motion offers many advantages. This method is geometrically analyzed based on hydrodynamics and verified with simulation and experiments. Various materials (i.e., water, hydrogels, and other liquids) are successfully patterned with complex shapes that are isolated from each other. Multiple cell types are patterned within the gels. Capillarity guided patterning (CGP) is fast, simple, and robust. It is not limited by pattern shape, size, cell type, and material. In a simple three-step process, a 3D cancer model that mimics cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions is engineered. The simplicity and robustness of the CGP will be attractive for developing novel in vitro models of organ-on-a-chip and other biological experimental platforms amenable to long-term observation of dynamic events using advanced imaging and analytical techniques.

Microbial cell lysis and nucleic acid extraction via nanofluidic channel

This paper presents a microfluidic device with a nano-channel prepared by focused ion beam (FIB) milling for microbial cell lysis and nucleic acid extraction.

Review of methods to probe single cell metabolism and bioenergetics

Single cell investigations have enabled unexpected discoveries, such as the existence of biological noise and phenotypic switching in infection, metabolism and treatment. Herein, we review methods that enable such single cell investigations specific to metabolism and bioenergetics. Firstly, we discuss how to isolate and immobilize individuals from a cell suspension, including both permanent and reversible approaches. We also highlight specific advances in microbiology for its implications in metabolic engineering. Methods for probing single cell physiology and metabolism are subsequently reviewed. The primary focus therein is on dynamic and high-content profiling strategies based on label-free and fluorescence microspectroscopy and microscopy. Non-dynamic approaches, such as mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, are also briefly discussed.