Microfluidics for Biologists Fundamentals and Applications

(National Geographic (Little) Kids) #1

work. This technology has very prominent advantage with respect to low overall
chip area and high integration density. For handling small volumes of fluid of the
range indicated above various micro-channels and micro-confinements are devised
using a variety of techniques in which the mixing, reacting, handling and
transporting etc. take place. The main motivations of this field are powerful
analytical and diagnostic techniques which have been parallel devised by chemists,
biochemists and material scientists over the last couple of decades to understand the
life processes for sustenance of life itself. These may include modern methods as
used in chemical diagnostics like [ 1 ]:



  1. Micro-analytical methods (Chemical analysis methods for higher sensitivity and
    higher resolution)
    (a) High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)
    (b) Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight methods (MALDI-
    TOF)
    (c) Capillary electro-osmosis and electrophoresis methods (CE)

  2. Sensitive detection of for chemical and biological hazards which may have
    military connotations (being used as bio-warfare tools)

  3. Molecular biology driven methods to recognize basic structures of biological
    entities deterministically which may include:
    (a) High throughput DNA sequencing
    (b) Causative genomics
    (c) Protein crystallography and folding
    (d) Immunological mechanisms through the study of binding chemistries of
    various pathogenic and non-pathogenic biological entities so on so forth
    The fluid which is analysed in the microfluidics domain can be handled in
    various ways. Hence depending on this, microfluidics is classified in three different
    types, continuous flow microfluidics (in which there is continuous flow of fluid
    through the micro-channels), droplet based microfluidics (in which discrete manip-
    ulating volumes are formed in the immiscible phase) and digital microfluidics
    (in which discrete, independently controlled droplets are manipulated in the open
    environment i.e., on the substrate) [ 2 ]. Depending upon the requirements, various
    materials like silicon, glass and various elastomers (polydimethysiloxane (PDMS),
    SU8 (negative photoresist)) are used in microfluidics for making various micro-
    channels, micro-valves etc. Hence keeping in view the various requirements of the
    field of microfluidics, a large domain of researchers are involved in the field
    pertaining to the advanced applications of the field of Microfluidics.
    In recent years, microfluidics has been an extensively explored domain owing to
    its high applicability to develop low-cost diagnostic devices. Clinical diagnostics is
    one of the promising application areas for deployment of such lab-on-chip systems
    also better known as point-of-care (POC) systems [ 3 ]. Lab-on-chip technology is
    preferred over conventional laboratory lab oriented techniques due to their faster
    performance and overall miniaturized size which leads to reduced use of analytes


34 G. Bhatt et al.


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