Microfluidic technology

Feijoo, S.C., Hayes, W.W., Watson, C.E., Martin, J.H. (1997). Effects of Microfluidizer technology on Bacillus licheniformis spores in ice cream mix. Journal of Dairy Science, 80,2184-2187. 

With the advantage of small size, low cost, ease of integration and automation, microfluidics technology is expected to revolutionize the food industry with portable, inexpensive, and high-performance protein-based devices. 

A layer-by-layer microfluidics technology was used to construct a 3D microscale hierarchical tissue-like structure. For instance, three layers of tissues, fibroblasts (human lung), myocytes (smooth muscle cells), and endothelial cells (human umbilical vein) were cultured on top of each other using consecutive microchannel cell matrix delivery. Cell viability was confirmed by fluorescent staining [862]. 

Research on microchip protein analysis has been very active for cellular protein functional assay, clinical diagnostics, and proteomics studies. Once again, the microfluidic technology plays an important role in protein assays. Immunoassay, protein separation, and enzymatic assay will be described in detail in subsequent sections. 

Schulte, T.H., Bardell, R.L., Weigh B.H., Microfluidic technologies in clinical diagnostics. Clin. Chim. Acta 2002, 321, 1-10. 

The book is divided into several chapters which include micromachining methods, microfluidic operations (microfluidic flow, sample introduction, sample preconcentration), chemical separations, detection technology, and various chemical and biochemical analysis (applications on cellular analysis, nucleic acid analysis, and protein analysis). Emphasis will be placed on analytical applications although the basic principles about micromachining and fluid flow and control will also be covered only to the extent that their understanding will assist the exploitation of the microfluidic technology on analytical applications. 

Two types of bioreactors are commonly used in industry for performing enzyme-catalyzed transformations the stirred tank reactor and the packed or fluidized bed reactor [28]. Substitution of these weU-established reactors by a system based on microfluidic technology wiU happen only if there are clear and compelling advantages in so doing. It is therefore necessary to consider, in a rigorous and... 

Koch, M. Evans, A. Brunnschweiler, A. Microfluidic Technology and Applications, Research Studies Press, Ltd. Hertfordshire, U.K., 2000. 

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