Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Q&A: What can microfluidics do for stem-cell research? | Csete Journal of Biology 2010 9 1 http content 9 1 1 Journal of Biology QUESTION ANSWER L Q A What can microfluidics do for stem-cell research Marie Csete What can microfluidics do for stem-cell research Stem-cell biology and microfluidics have both been hotbeds of research activity for the past few years yet neither field has been able to successfully commercialize a clinical killer application. Stem-cell behavior is exquisitely sensitive to environmental cues and the important cues are difficult to establish manipulate and quantify in traditional cell culture. Because the microenvironment can be controlled in microfluidics platforms microfluidics has a lot to offer stem-cell biology and there are many good reasons for the fields to join forces. What exactly is microfluidics Microfluidics is the characterization and manipulation of fluids on the nanoliter or picoliter scale. The behavior and properties of fluids change as amounts decrease from the macroscale volumes used for everyday applications to the microscale. This means that microfluidic devices cannot be built by simply scaling down macroscale devices. For instance at low microliter volumes fluids act more like solids and two fluids flowing alongside each other in a microchannel will not mix well except by diffusion therefore a variety of techniques pumps valves electrokinetics are used in microfluidics platforms to actuate mixing and fluid flows. Most microfluidics applications in research labs concentrate on the 10 to 100 am scale basically the diameter of a single cell. Microfluidics lab-on-a-chip devices allow standard laboratory analyses such as sample purification labeling detection and separation to be carried out automatically as the sample is moved via microchannels to different regions of a chip. Various methods have been used to produce microfluidic devices but inkjet printers offer an easily accessible way of printing channels and other features directly onto the .
