Microfluidic devices to enrich and isolate circulating tumor cells
Detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood has been extensively investigated to use them as a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of various cancers. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in CTC detection achieved through application of microfluidic devices and the challenges that these promising technologies must overcome to be clinically impactful.
Geometric effects in microfluidics on heterogeneous cell stress using an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach
A three-dimensional, multiphase computational fluid dynamics model was developed using an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach to characterize stresses on cells in microfluidics.
Paper
The impact of sphingosine kinase inhibitor-loaded nanoparticles on bioelectrical and biomechanical properties of cancer cells
A microfluidic chip developed to study the effects of free-drug versus NPs-mediated drug delivery on cancer cells using their electromechanical biomarkers.
Microfluidic co-cultures with hydrogel-based ligand trap to study paracrine signals giving rise to cancer drug resistance
A microfluidic co-culture device was designed to selectively capture or “knock down” cell-secreted FGF-2 in order to validate its role as a paracrine signal driving cancer drug resistance in melanoma cells.
Liver injury-on-a-chip: microfluidic co-cultures with integrated biosensors for monitoring liver cell signaling during injury
A microfluidic platform is used to study paracrine signaling during model liver injury. Such a microchip allows to study dynamics of paracrine crosstalk between two groups of liver cells.
Phenotypic drug profiling in droplet microfluidics for better targeting of drug-resistant tumors
We developed a droplet microfluidics-based phenotypic drug screening platform for analysis of single cell responses to cancer therapeutics.
Supersoft lithography: candy-based fabrication of soft silicone microstructures
Leveraging techniques from the confectionary industry, we develop a candy-based process to fabricate microstructures in intrinsically soft silicone materials (E ≈ 1 kPa), and demonstrate the utility of this approach by developing a simple technique to measure forces generated by contractile microtissues.
About this collection
This web collection contains contributions highlighting work presented at the 4th Global Conference on Nanoengineering for Medicine and Biology, (NEMB 2015) on April 19-22 , Mineapollis, USA. This annual meeting organised by the American Society of mechanical engineers biennial meeting brings together members of the engineering community, scientists, clinicians, students, and experts from industry and focuses on the development of new tools, methods and materials impacting biomedicine and life sciences, including nanomedicine and biologically inspired materials and technology.
The papers in this collection are from the Nano and Microfluidics track of the conference which focused on new technological developments in fundamental acquisition modalities and commercialization efforts that impact medical diagnostics, sensing, and imaging.
This collection of articles in both Lab on a Chip and Integrative Biology highlights recent progress in microtechnologies with medical and biological applications. We thank the many authors and reviewers who made this web collection possible.
Our Guest Editors for this collection were:
Daniel Irimia, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
Alexander Revzin, University of California, Davis , USA