Principles and Applications of Microfluidics in the Life Sciences
14 May 2007 13:30 - 17:00
This course is being presented by Nicole Pamme, a Lecturer
at Hull University.
Tutor Biography
Who should attend?
The course is suitable for scientists, technicians and engineers who would like to learn more about microfluidics and its applications in the area of life sciences. Researchers who are interested in working with microfluidic devices will acquire a comprehensive overview of the field. The course will also provide an opportunity for researchers that already have experience with microfluidic devices but that would like to update or broaden their knowledge on recent developments in bio-applications.
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the benefits and limitations of miniaturisation and learn how microfluidic devices can be fabricated, assembled and operated.
2. Understand the behaviour of fluids in microchannels and learn how this has led to methods of pumping, mixing and detection that can be quite different from those used on the larger scale.
3. Get a broad overview over the applications of microfluidic devices in the area of life sciences including DNA and protein analysis as well as recent developments in cell and tissue analysis.
4. Understand the challenges and recent developments towards integrated and portable analysis systems (microTAS) that can be used at the point-of-care for medical applications, at-the-scene for forensic applications or in-the-field for environmental and biodefence applications.
Topics and Course Organisation
Principles of Microfluidics and Construction of microTAS
1. Benefits of miniaturising fluid handling
for (bio)chemical reactions
for the separation of sample mixtures
integration and automation, micro total analysis systems (microTAS) microfluidics, nanofluidics and beyond
2. Flow behaviour in microchannels
laminar and turbulent flow
diffusion
heat transfer
multi-phase flow – droplets, plugs and slugs
3. Handling of fluids
components for fluid handling
pumping (hydrodynamic, electro-osmotic, magnetic)
mixing (passive and active)
valves and other means of flow stream control
4. Detection in microfluidic devices
optical (fluorescence, chemiluminescence)
electro-chemical
spectroscopic and spectrometric
thermal lens microscopy
5. Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices
materials and biocompatibility
silicon and glass devices
polymer devices
interfacing and packaging
Applications of Microfluidic Devices in Bioanalysis
1. DNA analysis
DNA hybridisation assays and SNP analysis
on-chip polymerase chain reaction
DNA separation
2. Protein analysis
on-chip immunoassays
pre-concentration of proteins
protein separation
microchips coupled to mass spectrometers
3. Cell and tissue analysis
handling of cells in microfluidic devices
single cell analysis
parallel analysis on cell arrays
on-chip tissue analysis
4. Integrated devices for point-of-care or in-the-field analysis
microfluidic devices for medical point-of-care applications
microfluidic devices for forensic applications
microfluidic devices for biodefence applications
Tutor
Dr. Nicole Pamme is a lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Hull (UK). Her research is focused on bioanalysis in microfluidic devices, magnetism and microfluidics as well as the fabrication of micro- and nanofluidic devices. Her teaching activities within the Department include lectures on micro- and nanofluidics as well as microanalytical chemistry. In addition to publishing in the area of miniaturisation, Nicole Pamme has also co-authored a textbook on bioanalytical chemistry.
Nicole Pamme obtained a Diploma in Chemistry from the University of Marburg (Germany), in 1999. For her PhD she went to Imperial College London (UK) where she joined the group of Prof. Andreas Manz. It was here that she first started working with microfluidic devices, more specifically, on single particle analysis inside microfluidic channels. In 2004, she moved to Tsukuba (Japan) as an independent research fellow in the International Centre for Young Scientists (ICYS) based at the Japanese National Institute for Materials Science where she extended her work to the separation of cells in microfluidic devices. She was appointed as a lecturer in Hull in December 2005.
www.hull.ac.uk/chemistry/pamme