Published December 13, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Reconfigurable Microfluidics

  • 1. IBM Research Europe
  • 2. Technion, IBM Research Zurich
  • 3. Technion

Description

The field of microfluidics has enabled a wide range of discoveries and technologies in  the biological and chemical sciences.  However, despite three decades of research, the vision of lab-on-a-chip, a microscale device capable of replacing large-scale chemical and biological laboratories, remains elusive. Here we argue that a major gap toward achieving this goal is the lack of reconfigurability and programmability of existing microfluidic platforms. We portray a vision of a fully reconfigurable microfluidic device, which can change its shape and function dynamically, thus allowing researchers to ‘put their hands’ into a microscale experiment and enabling real-time decision making. We review existing technologies that can dynamically control microscale flows, suggest additional physical mechanisms that could be leveraged towards the goal of reconfigurable microfluidics, and call on the broad scientific community to join in this effort.

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Reconfigurable microfluidics - perspective - 27.pdf

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Additional details

Funding

MetamorphChip – Dynamic Microfluidic Structures for Analysis of Single Cell Systems 678734
European Commission