January 2016

Open-source Laser Fabrication Lowers Costs For Cancer Research

January 31, 2016

Jordan Miller’s research team at Rice University has shown how to make copies of microwell sheets using polyurethane microneedle casts. (Photo courtesy of Jordan Miller/Rice University) In a move that slashes 90 percent of the cost [more...]

Thermocapillarity in Microfluidics—A Review

January 23, 2016

Figure 1. Surface Marangoni flow induced due to surface temperature gradient from hot to cold region. The flow propagates inside due to drag and reverse flow forms to hold mass conservation (a). Droplet on a solid surface with temperature [more...]

NIST Simulates Fast, Accurate DNA Sequencing Through Graphene Nanopore

January 23, 2016

NIST concept for DNA sequencing through a graphene nanopore (Image Credit: Smolyanitsky/NIST) Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have simulated a new concept for rapid, accurate gene sequencing by [more...]

Scientists Create A Low-cost, High-precision Glass Nano-engraving Technique (100nm)

January 23, 2016

In a joint study, scientists fr om the MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology), ICP (Institute of Chemical Physics) named after Semenov, MSU (Moscow State University) and IPCP (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics) have [more...]

Use of Gelatin As Intermediate Thin Passivating Layer in PDMS Soft Lithography Technology

January 17, 2016

Gabriele Pitingolo1,3, Raffaele Vecchione1,3 and Paolo A. Netti1,2,3 1 Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Healthcare, Istituto Italiano di tecnologia (IIT@CRIB), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci, 53, 80125, Naples, Italy. 2 Dipartimento di [more...]

Device Could Decrease Time Between Cancer Detection and Treatments

January 17, 2016

The acoustophoretic microfluidics device the team built allows it to utilize the pressure generated in the small device to manipulate small fluid samples such as blood drawn during an examination (Image Credit: Texas A&M University) [more...]

DNA Cancer Test Gets Backing from Amazon, Microsoft Founders

January 17, 2016

A small number of companies are working to disrupt the blood testing industry (Image from Wikipedia) Illumina, one of the largest DNA sequencing companies, has announced the formation of a startup known as Grail, which plans to develop [more...]

Scientists Want To Make A Braille Screen For Tablets Using Microfluidics

January 17, 2016

A prototype of the tablet, which uses air or fluid to raise the dots that create braille letters (Image Credit: Kelly O’Sullivan, University of Michigan College of Engineering) An inexpensive, full-page Braille tablet could make [more...]

Scientists Pinpoint How Nanoparticles Damage Immune Cells

January 17, 2016

Mouse macrophages (red) engulf silica nanoparticles (green). (Photo Credit: PNNL) Scientists have shown that a process known as oxidative stress is at work during encounters between certain nanoparticles and immune cells, selectively [more...]

A 3D-printed Organs-on-a-Chip Device Reveals Clues for Diabetes therapy

January 17, 2016

Figure 1. The device that contains three cell types mimics an endocrine and hormone transportation process. (Image Credit: Dr. Chengpeng Chen, Saint Louis University) A recent publication on the back cover of Integrative Biology achieved [more...]

Spermbot Could Help Solve Male Infertility

January 17, 2016

A National Survey of Family Growth found that 7.5 percent of sexually experienced men under the age of 45 have seen a fertility doctor. That percentage correlates to between 3.3 and 4.7 million men. Of those men, around 17 percent were [more...]

Microbots Individually Controlled Using Mini Force Fields

January 17, 2016

This image shows how two microbots can be independently controlled when operating within a group, an advance aimed at using the tiny machines for applications such as advanced manufacturing and biomedical research. (Image Credit: Purdue [more...]

Illumina Forms New Company to Enable Early Cancer Detection via Blood-Based Screening

January 10, 2016

Jan. 10, 2016– Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced GRAIL, a new company formed to enable cancer screening from a simple blood test. Powered by Illumina sequencing technology, GRAIL will develop a pan-cancer screening test [more...]

Hemostasis Monitoring Microdevice Detects Deadly Blood Clots

January 10, 2016

The Wyss Institute’s novel hemostasis monitoring microdevice comprises a microfluidic device with hollow channels through which blood is flowed and a proprietary algorithm for analyzing patient-specific data to predict when blood [more...]

Thermo Fisher Agrees to Acquire Affymetrix for $1.3 Billion

January 10, 2016

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. agreed to acquire Affymetrix Inc. in a deal valued at about $1.3 billion, adding technology used by scientists and biologists to analyze specimens at the cellular and genetic level. Thermo Fisher will pay $14 [more...]

Philips’ Minicare I-20 System Can Detect and Evaluate Concussions With Blood Test

January 7, 2016

The new handheld test will be based on Philips’ Minicare I-20 system Royal Philips and Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a multi-year joint development agreement to develop and commercialize a new [more...]

NOWDiagnostics Is Using Quick Fingertip-prick Blood Testing To Identify Disease

January 7, 2016

Microfluidic cartridge (Image Credit: NOWDiagnostics) A focus on relatively painless, quick diagnostic testing didn’t just bring Theranos to the forefront (despite its recent hurdles). Companies like NOWDiagnostics, established in the [more...]

Tracing A Cellular Family Tree In A Microfluidic Device

January 7, 2016

Researchers engineered a microfluidic device that traps first an individual cell and then all of its descendants (Image Credit: Melanie Gonick/MIT) By combining sophisticated RNA sequencing technology with a new device that isolates [more...]

Insulin-Producing Pancreatic Cells Created from Human Skin Cells

January 7, 2016

Functioning human pancreatic cells after they’ve been transplanted into a mouse. [Image credit: Saiyong Zhu] Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have successfully converted human [more...]

Airway-on-a-Chip Models COPD and Asthma

January 2, 2016

A research team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University leveraged its organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a model of the human small airway in which lung inflammatory diseases, such as chronic [more...]