Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-chip

Microfluidic technology is revolutionising a number of scientific fields, including chemistry, biology, diagnostics, and engineering. The ability to manipulate fluids and objects within networks of micrometre-scale channels allows reductions in processing and analysis times, reagent and sample consumption, and waste production, whilst allowing fine control and monitoring of chemical or biological processes. The integration of multiple components and processes enable “lab-on-a-chip” devices and “micro total analysis systems” that have applications ranging from analytical chemistry, organic synthesis, and clinical diagnostics to cell biology and tissue engineering.

This concise, easy-to-read book is perfectly suited for instructing newcomers on the most relevant and important aspects of this exciting and dynamic field, particularly undergraduate and postgraduate students embarking on new studies, or for those simply interested in learning about this widely applicable technology.

Written by a team with more than 20 years of experience in microfluidics research and teaching, the book covers a range of topics and techniques including fundamentals (e.g. scaling laws and flow effects), microfabrication and materials, standard operations (e.g. flow control, detection methods) and applications. Furthermore, it includes questions and answers that provide for the needs of students and teachers in the area.

Andreas Manz is one of the pioneers in microchip technology for chemical applications, having developed the novel concept of Miniaturized Total Analysis Systems (μ-TAS); an integrated microsystems incorporating sampling, sample pretreatment, separation, and detection. He was involved in the development of high speed analysers based on capillary electrophoresis, liquid chromatography and flow injection analysis. Professor Manz studied chemistry at ETH Zürich (Switzerland) and graduated in 1986 with a PhD in chemical sensors. After a postdoc at Hitachi Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan), he worked at Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland. In 1995 he became a professor at Imperial College London and from 2003 to 2008 he was director of the ISAS Institute for Analytical Sciences in Dortmund, Germany. Since 2009, he has been a scientist at KIST Europe and a professor at the Systems Engineering Department of Saarland University, Germany. He has published over 220 papers (with more than 11,000 citations) in scientific journals and claimed 39 patents. He was the Founding Member and Chairman of the Editorial Board of the RSC journal “Lab on a Chip” and was a founding member of the annual international conference “MicroTAS”.

Giuseppina Simone obtained her Master in Chemical Engineering from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy in 2001, and her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 2007. During her doctorate, she was visiting scientist at the MIC Department of the Technical University of Denmark. Subsequently, she did her research in several laboratories including Silicon Biosystems S.p.A., Harvard Medical School, Kist Europe and most recently at the Italian Institute of Technology. In 2015 she became Senior Cofund Fellow at the Biophysical Science Institute at the University of Durham. Dr Simone’s scientific interests include Microfluidics, Micro reactors, Lab on a Chip, Microfabrication, Soft Matter and Biophysics where she has published a number of papers, patents and books.