MICROFLUDICS

Hritik Khandelwal(16ucc040), Abhishek Sharma(16uec009)

Abstract

Microfluidics is an enabling technology which studies the behaviors of fluid through

microchannels at the microscale. It consists of devices containing chambers and tunnels
through which fluids flow. It deals with very small volumes of fluids to control chemical,
biological, and physical processes that are relevant to sensing and has shown prominent
promise for improving diagnostics and biology research.
Microfluidics enables abridged, integratable, high‐throughput and automated biochemical
analysis, production of biomaterials with sharp controlled structures and configuration, and
the establishment of organ‐on‐a‐chip systems with specific organ quality and functions. Fluids
behave very differently on the micrometric scale than they do in everyday life: these
distinctive characteristic are the key for new scientific experiments and innovations.
The roots of microfluidics are found in three main different fields which are microanalysis,
biodefense, and microelectronics. As it allows to operate with very small volumes of samples
and reagents, which is quite a compelling feature for microanalysis and was first applied in
microbiology as a tool for analytical analysis. It has numerous potential applications in
biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, the life sciences, defense, public health, and agriculture
Microfluidic devices have been widely applied for the analytical systems due to their fast
response capacities, low cost and small amounts of necessary, very steep chemical bio-
receptors, such as antibodies, aptamers or enzymes

1. Introduction

2. Main Themes

Microfluidic systems have significant importance in biosensing which is an important part of

Biomedical Engineering.The System typically consists of a set of fluidic control units that
allow different biomolecules to be detected and tested in an easy and flexible manner. The
chip-based platform has a god alliance with micro/nano-fluidic components and is proficient
of sampling, filtering, preconcentarting, separating, restocking and detecting Biomolecules.
These technologies are based on the manipulation of continuous liquid flow through
microfabricated channels. Actuation of is implemented either by external pressure using micro
pumps or by combinations of capillary forces and electrokinetic. The continuous-flow
microfluidic operation is the mainstream approach because it is easy to implement and less
sensitive to protein fouling problems. Continuous-flow devices are adequate for many well-
defined and simple biochemical applications, and for certain tasks such as chemical
separation, but they are less suitable for tasks requiring a high degree of flexibility or in effect
fluid manipulations. Process monitoring capabilities in continuous-flow systems can be
achieved with highly sensitive microfluidic flow sensors based on MEMS technology which
offer resolutions down to the nanoliter range.

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device acting on a miniaturized scale one or several examinations

commonly carried out in a laboratory. It blends and automates multiple high-resolution
laboratory techniques such as synthesis and analysis of chemicals or fluid testing into a
system that sits on a chip. There are many benefits to operating at this scale. Samples analysis
can occur on location, where the samples are generated, rather than being carried to an
extensive laboratory facility. Fluids behavior at this scale makes it easier to control the
movement and interaction of samples, causing reactions to be much more cogent, and
minimizing chemical waste. It also allows reduces vulnerability to dangerous chemicals.

Discrete microfluidic system Droplet-based microfluidic systems are currently an emerging

area of microfluidic research. One of the most convenient means is to inject various laminar
streams of aqueous reagents into an immiscible carrier fluid and therefore to provoke flow
instability instantly for forming the droplets. There are several discrete advantages based on
droplet-based microfluidic systems. First, the systems promise a new high-throughput
technology that allows the generation of microdroplets in excess of several thousand per
seconds. In addition, parallel and serial in-vitro compartmentalization is possible with this
technology.

Moreover, fast mixing can happen within minute volumes of microdroplets due to the short
dissipation distance and chaotic mixing within droplets with the use of twisting channel
geometries by stretching, folding, and reorienting fluid. Another feature is that the variation of
the channel dimensions can regulate the droplet volumes and decrease volumes anything up to
109 times compared to the tiniest assays in conventional microtiter plates. With control of
flow rate, the reagent concentrations can be modified accordingly. It is the confluence of the
aforementioned unique features and the ability to regulate and manipulate the droplet motions
to split, merge, and sort that has revolutionized our ability to control fluid/fluid interfaces for
use in fields ranging from the material.
A typical example is the use of microfluidic filtration device for spermato-genetic cell sorting
to support IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) processes.
In several cases of male factor infertility, a single viable spermatogenic cell can be regained
from a biopsy pellet and be directly inserted into an oocyte. The biopsy pellet contains a
variety of tissues and a range of germ cells from all orders of maturity. These process of
finding viable cells for intracytoplasmic sperm injection can be time-consuming, requiring
hours of intensive work involving manually mincing the pellet, successive cell separation
cycles through centrifugation, and individual cell discrimination. The germ cells become
smaller as they mature, beginning as a large round spermatogonial of 16~18µm and ending as
a small and slender spermatozoon of 4~6µm. Using this characteristic, one can aim to divide
the spermatogenic cells into different mature categories according to their sizes in a fast and
efficient manner.

3. Conclusions
Acknowledgements

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfluidics

https://www.elveflow.com/microfluidic-tutorials/cell-biology-imaging-reviews-and-tutorials/microfluidic-
for-cell-biology/microfluidics-applications-a-short-review/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/microfluidics

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/admt.201800663

https://bme.umich.edu/tag/microfluidics/