Posters

HBV and HIVenv chips with overlapping oligopeptides encompassing the full amino acid sequences of HBV and HIV polypeptides were produced. In addition, a chip displaying a library of random 4608 different 15-mers peptides (4608-RPL) was prepared. Both chips were used for analyzing monoclonal antibodies and sera from HIV- and HBV-infected individuals. 4608-RPL could be used for identifying target sequences of antibodies without prior knowledge of the corresponding immunizing antigen.

The overall objective of our work is to develop a system-level model and simulation framework for investigating the liquid filling process (including the filling time, filling pattern/status, flow velocity/pressure etc.) in complex microfluidic networks with order-of-magnitude speedup over the high-fidelity simulations and without appreciably compromising analysis accuracy.

A method based on magnetic forces to reversibly bond glass slides to PDMS microfluidic devices has been developed and experimentally characterized. Results show a reliable tightness in normal laboratory applications.

We present a pressure driven microfluidic system devoted to concentration of cells in localized clusters ready for 3D cell culture in a microchamber. Cells are flown back and forth into the microchamber by pressurization/de-pressurization of two air caps symmetrically placed at two ends of a microchannel. The symmetry of the flow induces the presence of a dead volume in the cell culture chamber, favouring a rapid cell trapping and aggregation.

The self-assembled peptides as building blocks are excellent candidates for applications in biomedical nanotechnology because of their chemical diversity, flexibility, biocompatibility and stability. This work shows a stable synthesis in liquid and that is's posible to manipulate them using positive DEP.

We present a microfluidic device that is able to trigger initial recruitment and subsequent aggregation of discoid platelets by mimicking the effects of pathological changes in blood vessel geometry.

Applications for microfluidic technologies in life science are expanding rapidly, and have the potential to impact enormously across a range of fields, from cell manipulation to separation science. In separation science their small channel dimensions make them ideal for high throughput separations, reducing sample volumes and solvent consumption.

We developed a microfluidic device for encapsulating gold nanoparticles in Micro-Alginate Beads (MABs). The size and the gap of the monodisperse alginate droplets were successfully controlled by adjusting the relative "oil/sample" flow rate ratio. Droplets reacted with calcium ion at the interface between oil phase and aqueous phase so that MABs precipitated spontaneously and undergone complete gelation. Purified MABs were successfully observed by fluorescence microscopy.

We demonstrate spatio-temporal protein dynamics in single living bacterial cells from time lapse fluorescence imaging (TLFI) in a microfluidic chip.