Tag Archives: microfluidics

Wikipedia list of academic microfluidics research

It turns out that Wikipedia has an extensive list of academic microfluidics/bioMEMS research groups worldwide. Although the list is long, there are probably many groups missing. I know this because when I first found the page, only one group from MIT was mentioned (there are at least nine). I’ve since remedied that situation — my [...]
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Recent clinical trials of microfluidic devices

After I heard about a clinical trial for a microfluidic device that detects circulating cancer cells, I started wondering how many other microfluidic devices are in clinical trials.  A quick search turned up only seven studies (and two of those were withdrawn). Interestingly, five of the seven trials have some connection to the University of [...]
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Microfluidics for studying cancer metastasis

What causes cancer cells to become metastatic, moving beyond their local environment to infiltrate other parts of the body? Some researchers have called metastasis “the most dangerous event in cancer,” and many believe that a better understanding of metastasis could lead to new cancer treatments. Microfluidics researchers have long been investigating metastasis, because metastasis is all [...]
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Natural technology evolution vs. failed innovation

I loved David Rotman’s recent Technology Review article “Shoveling Water” on why the commercialization of microfluidics has been so slow. (I wrote about it here.) Later I realized it reminded me of an article I read earlier this year by Michael Mandel of Business Week on “The Failed Promise of Innovation in the US.”  [...]
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A new era for DIY science

Lately DIY science seems to be everywhere. A few weeks ago Nature Biotechnology published an article on the DIYbio movement, while Technology Review wrote about how to take pictures of the earth from space for $150. And don’t forget the rise of O’Reilly’s Make Magazine. Although people have been programming (and building!) computers at home [...]
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Technology Review investigates the slow process of microfluidics commercialization

Today Technology Review came out with a great article speculating why the commercialization of microfluidics has been so slow. In “Shoveling Water: Why does it take so long to commercialize new technologies?” David Rotman uses Fluidigm as a case study and adds a twist by applying ideas from W. Brian Arthur’s The Nature of Technology, [...]
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Microfluidic art from the Folch lab

One of the best things about microfluidics research is the images. Colored dyes are used to track liquid flow, often producing beautiful photographs such as those seen in the artistic collaboration between George Whitesides and Felice Frankel. Albert Folch’s lab at the University of Washington has created their own microfluidic art gallery using images from their [...]
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Worth a thousand words

Sometimes there’s no substitute for a demo. In experimental work, techniques are commonly passed on from person to person. (I somehow ended up pipetting left-handed for years because of the single time my left-handed advisor showed me how to do it.) But what if you want to try a protocol that’s new to your lab? [...]
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Microfluidics tackles HIV

In recognition of World AIDS Day today, here’s a highlight of some of the microfluidics work addressing HIV. In particular, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology professor Utkan Demirci has published several recent papers on using microfluidics for HIV, in addition to work from the Toner lab, Rodriguez lab, Whitesides lab and others. Using microfluidics for point-of-care [...]
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Global microfluidics map

I’ve continued adding to the list of microfluidics/lab-on-a-chip companies and wanted to get a sense of where these efforts are located (similar to the Nanotechnology Map). To do this, I’ve created a Google Map to help visualize commercial microfluidics activity worldwide:
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