Multiplexed microfluidic devices

Xue, Q., Wainright, A., Gangakhedkar, S., Gibbons, I., Multiplexed enzyme assays in capillary electrophoretic single-use microfluidic devices. Electrophoresis 2001, 22(18), 4000-4007. 

Fig. 11 Overview of the possible uses for a multiplexed microfluidic cell culture system. Input can be used for control of the stem cell nice and drug testing. The gradient generator creates a concentration profile of the input factors. The cell culture chamber is a perfusion chamber. Analysis involves monitoring the output of the device, which can include imaging with appropriate biomarkers, analysis using Inline sensors or standard laboratory equipment [74]...

Fig. 16 Single-cell mRNA extraction microfluidic device, filled with food dye for illustration. All flow channels are filled with yellow food dye, multiplexer control channels are filled with red dye, collection and waste channels are in blue. Insets 1-4 show enlargements of four important areas of the chip. After loading the cell suspension from the cell input inlet, single-cells are captured in the cell lysis module (inset 1) within the flow channels (blue). The pump valves are green. The separation valve is black. The lysis buffer is yellow [133]...

Shi, Y., DNA sequencing and multiplex STR analysis on plastic microfluidic devices. Electrophoresis,... 

First, cell assays in digital microfluidic devices have been implemented recently by Wheeler and coworkers [3,4]. In this pioneering work, both cells in suspension and adherent were cultured and assayed in nanoliter volumes. The new DMF techniques outperformed standard cell culture and assay methods by the 30-fold increase in sensitivity, 100-fold reduction in reagent volumes and cell number, gentler cell manipulation, and reduced number of assay steps. DMF-based cell assays show great potential for automating and simplifying cell assays especially in a multiplexed format. 

Optofluidics holds the most potential in lab-on-a-chip application. Being compatible with conventional microfluidics is the key advantage of elastomer-based tunable optofluidic devices. PDMS microfluidic chips are extensively utilized in biological and chemical studies. Due to similarities in materials and fabrication methods, PDMS-based tunable optofluidic devices can be easily integrated with other PDMS-based microfluidic devices to enable more complex and multiplexed functions. For example, tunable dye laser sources can be used... 

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