Comparative Study and Simulation of Capacitive Sensors in Microfluidic Channels for Sensitive Red Blood Cell Detection

A Comprehensive Review of Organ-on-a-Chip Technology and Its Applications

Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) is an emerging technology that simulates an artificial organ within a microfluidic cell culture chip. Current cell biology research focuses on in vitro cell cultures due to various limitations of in vivo testing. Unfortunately, in-vitro cell culturing fails to provide an accurate microenvironment, and in vivo cell culturing is expensive and has historically been a source of ethical controversy. OOC aims to overcome these shortcomings and provide the best of both in vivo and in vitro cell culture research. The critical component of the OOC design is utilizing microfluidics to ensure a stable concentration gradient, dynamic mechanical stress modeling, and accurate reconstruction of a cellular microenvironment. OOC also has the advantage of complete observation and control of the system, which is impossible to recreate in in-vivo research. Multiple throughputs, channels, membranes, and chambers are constructed in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) array to simulate various organs on a chip. Various experiments can be performed utilizing OOC technology, including drug delivery research and toxicology. Current technological expansions involve multiple organ microenvironments on a single chip, allowing for studying inter-tissue interactions. Other developments in the OOC technology include finding a more suitable material as a replacement for PDMS and minimizing artefactual error and non-translatable differences.

Microfluidics for personalized drug delivery

This review highlights the transformative impact of microfluidic technology on personalized drug delivery. Microfluidics addresses issues in traditional drug synthesis, providing precise control and scalability in nanoparticle fabrication, and microfluidic platforms show high potential for versatility, offering patient-specific dosing and real-time monitoring capabilities, all integrated into wearable technology. Covalent conjugation of antibodies to nanoparticles improves bioactivity, driving innovations in drug targeting. The integration of microfluidics with sensor technologies and artificial intelligence facilitates real-time feedback and autonomous adaptation in drug delivery systems. Key challenges, such as droplet polydispersity and fluidic handling, along with future directions focusing on scalability and reliability, are essential considerations in advancing microfluidics for personalized drug delivery.

Dielectric characterization of Babesia bovis using the dielectrophoretic crossover frequency

Coinfection with the tick-transmitted pathogen Babesia spp. is becoming a serious health problem because of the erythrocyte invasion through Ixodes scapularis tick. The transmission of this protozoan by blood transfusion often results in high morbidity and mortality in recipients. A novel way to detect parasitized erythrocytes is by utilizing dielectrophoresis, an electrokinetic technique on a microfluidic platform, to improve the diagnostics of Babesia spp. The differences in the dielectric properties of Babesia spp.-infected erythrocytes versus healthy erythrocytes were exploited to design a fast and cost-effective diagnostic tool. One crucial factor for a successful diagnostic platform via dielectrophoretic separation is the dielectric characterization of Babesia-infected erythrocytes, which is investigated in this paper. The influence of medium conductivity and erythrocytes phenotype and genotype over the first crossover frequency (f_co1 ) are used to quantify the dielectric properties of the infected cells. A sigmoidal curve was plotted via curve fitting of the single-shell model, which has been proven appropriate for parasitized cell populations where considerable cell geometry variation occurs. The difference in these curves is relevant for the separation of cells population. Microliters of sample and reagent were used throughout this experiment; the scale, results obtained, and simplicity of the system often make it very suitable for point-of-care babesiosis disease diagnostics.