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Application of Microfluidic Technology in Bioengineering

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shuli Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Interests: microfluidics; nanofluidics; liquid gating technology; bioinspired materials; micro-LED

Dr. Yigang Shen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Interests: microfluidics; colloid and interface science; biosensors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microfluidic technology, also known as lab-on-a-chip technology, is a cutting-edge field of research that focuses on the manipulation and control of small volumes of fluids within micrometer-sized channels. This innovative field has gained significant attention due to its unique features, including miniaturization, integration, precision, automation, and versatility, make it a powerful tool for manipulating fluids and analyzing samples in various applications, such as biomedical engineering, chemistry, material, and environmental sciences, etc. The Special Issue focuses on the application of microfluidic technology in bioengineering. This Special Issue invites manuscripts (research papers, perspectives, and review articles) related to fabrication of microfluidic systems and their applications in bioengineering, including, but not limited to, diagnostics, biodetection, biosensors, bioseparation, biomaterial synthesis, gene engineering, cell analysis, drug screening, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, personalized healthcare, etc. We also encourage submissions on the advanced fabrication technology and integration of microfluidics devices. We invite researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to submit their work to the Special Issue. We look forward to receiving your contributions and sharing the latest advances of the application of microfluidic technology in bioengineering with our readers.

Dr. Shuli Wang
Dr. Yigang Shen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

microfluidics
lab-on-a-chip
micro/nanofabrication
micro electrical mechanical systems
3D-printing
diagnostics
biodetection
biosensors
bioseparation
biomaterial
genomics
cell analysis
Point-of-Care Testing
drug screening
tissue engineering
regenerative medicine
personalized healthcare

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 2946 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Utilization of Optically Induced Dielectrophoresis (ODEP)-Based Cell Manipulation in a Microfluidic System for the Purification and Sorting of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) with Different Sizes

by Po-Yu Chu, Thi Ngoc Anh Nguyen, Ai-Yun Wu, Po-Shuan Huang, Kai-Lin Huang, Chia-Jung Liao, Chia-Hsun Hsieh and Min-Hsien Wu

Micromachines 2023, 14(12), 2170; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14122170 - 29 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 922

Abstract

The analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at the molecular level holds great promise for several clinical applications. For this goal, the harvest of high-purity, size-sorted CTCs with different subtypes from a blood sample are important. For this purpose, a two-step CTC isolation protocol was proposed, by which the immunomagnetic beads-based cell separation was first utilized to remove the majority of blood cells. After that, an optically induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) microfluidic system was developed to (1) purify the CTCs from the remaining magnetic microbeads-bound blood cells and to (2) sort and separate the CTCs with different sizes. In this study, the ODEP microfluidic system was designed and fabricated. Moreover, its optimum operation conditions and performance were explored. The results exhibited that the presented technique was able to purify and sort the cancer cells with two different sizes from a tested cell suspension in a high-purity (93.5% and 90.1% for the OECM 1 and HA22T cancer cells, respectively) manner. Overall, this study presented a technique for the purification and sorting of cancer cells with different sizes. Apart from this application, the technique is also useful for other applications in which the high-purity and label-free purification and sorting of cells with different sizes is required. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Microfluidic Technology in Bioengineering)

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Review

Jump to: Research

18 pages, 3472 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Advances in Microfluidic-Based Extracellular Vesicle Analysis

by Jiming Chen, Meiyu Zheng, Qiaoling Xiao, Hui Wang, Caixing Chi, Tahui Lin, Yulin Wang, Xue Yi and Lin Zhu

Micromachines 2024, 15(5), 630; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15050630 - 8 May 2024

Viewed by 373

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) serve as vital messengers, facilitating communication between cells, and exhibit tremendous potential in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, conventional EV isolation methods are labor-intensive, and they harvest EVs with low purity and compromised recovery. In addition, the drawbacks, such as the limited sensitivity and specificity of traditional EV analysis methods, hinder the application of EVs in clinical use. Therefore, it is urgent to develop effective and standardized methods for isolating and detecting EVs. Microfluidics technology is a powerful and rapidly developing technology that has been introduced as a potential solution for the above bottlenecks. It holds the advantages of high integration, short analysis time, and low consumption of samples and reagents. In this review, we summarize the traditional techniques alongside microfluidic-based methodologies for the isolation and detection of EVs. We emphasize the distinct advantages of microfluidic technology in enhancing the capture efficiency and precise targeting of extracellular vesicles (EVs). We also explore its analytical role in targeted detection. Furthermore, this review highlights the transformative impact of microfluidic technology on EV analysis, with the potential to achieve automated and high-throughput EV detection in clinical samples. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Microfluidic Technology in Bioengineering)

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