Integration of the microfluidic and robotic technologies has great potential for biomedical innovations. In addition to the advantage of environmental control in a small confined space of the chip, a robot enables physical operation to the small object such as cell, microbe, virus as well as the fluid in the chip. Microfluidic chip is the device which can contain various functions to imitate laboratory environment in a small chip. It allows achieving high throughput screening, separation, detection and reaction of various liquid solutions in a small confined space. The application of the microfluidic chip is extending rapidly to single cell analysis, separation, culturing and so on. However, the fluidic force is not always advantageous to achieve some tasks, such as precise control or manipulation of small objects such as cell in the chip. On the other hand, a micromechanical manipulator is widely used for some biomedical applications because of its capability of high accuracy, high power, and dexterous manipulation. However, conventional manipulation is conducted in an open environment to the air due to the huge size of the robotic manipulator, and it may lead to the cell contamination. In addition, the manipulation requires high skill to the operator.

The development of electronic materials, inspired by the complexity of this organ is a tremendous, unrealized materials challenge. However, the advent of organic-based electronic materials may offer a potential solution to this longstanding problem. In this talk, I will describe the design of organic electronic materials and sensors to mimic skin functions. These new materials and new devices enabled arrange of new applications in medical devices, robotics and wearable electronics.The development of electronic materials, inspired by the complexity of this organ is a tremendous, unrealized materials challenge. However, the advent of organic-based electronic materials may offer a potential solution to this longstanding problem. In this talk, I will describe the design of organic electronic materials and sensors to mimic skin functions. These new materials and new devices enabled arrange of new applications in medical devices, robotics and wearable electronics.

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Advances in chemical synthesis enabled by microfluidics are summarized, specifically (1) microliter-scale droplets for automated reaction screening and optimization; (2) a redox-neutral electrochemistry microfluidic platform for radical-radical cross-coupling reactions; and (3) an automatic, robotic reconfigurable modular micro/mini-fluidic system for execution and optimization of multistep reactions. Machine learning models for retrosynthesis and forward prediction with reaction context identification provide synthesis pathway planning for this system.

The natural world (plants and animals) is full of recipes to control and manipulate water, in particular at small scales where drops often represent a threat. These examples inspired many kinds of biomimetic materials, where the aim is generally to achieve a particular function: anti-rain, slip, self-cleaning and even more challenging, anti-dew. Our plan is to scan all these situations, from immemorial natural examples to recent artificial achievements.

We developed the interfaces based on nanostructured biocompatible polymer consisting of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine(MPC) unit. The cross-linking MPC copolymer films can be coated on glass, polymers, and metals. This modification suppresses protein, cell adhesions, blood coagulation, and biofilm formation, resulting in long-term use of biosensors, artificial organs, and organ-on-a-chips. The MPC copolymer can also immobilize enzymes and antibodies for different applications.

We use drop-on-demand inkjet to dispense living cells onto tissue culture scaffolds or onto substrates for cell-based assays. We have used several strategies to improve reliability of single cell printing. We have also used particle image velocimetry to characterize the flow field inside the inkjet nozzle and high-speed imaging to track cell movement. By tuning the rheology, and using a machine learning algorithm, we can rapidly dispense single cells into open platforms for many applications.

Nanofluidics enables precise tests of theories describing DNA confined to small spaces. This presentation highlights in particular how genomics tools have provided stringent tests of these theories and open questions in DNA physical chemistry and polymer topology that can be addressed by nanofluidics.

In this talk I will elaborate on recent technological developments and practical applications of our (i)SIMPLE self-powered microfluidic toolbox. I will demonstrate the successful use of this technology to precisely meter and dose finger prick blood, to separate blood to plasma with lab-quality performance, to build in passive heating systems for isothermal reactions, to implement POC tests for therapeutic drug monitoring and finally also to design an autonomous and controlled drug/vaccine delivery patch with integrated hollow microneedles.

Liquid marbles are droplets with volume typically on the order of microliters coated with hydrophobic powder. The versatility, ease of use and low cost make liquid marbles an attractive platform for digital microfluidics. The talk will report our recent discoveries in the physics of liquid marbles that allow liquids to be manipulated as solids, as well as their robustness in terms of evaporation and structural deformation. The talk will also present applications such as large-scale three-dimensional cell culture, cryopreservation and polymerase chain reaction.

Nanowires and nanotubes are very promising tools for biological applications. Their small dimensions, which are on the same length scale as many cell components, make them an ideal tool to probe and stimulate cells with minimal perturbation. In this talk I will review our work towards using nanowires and nanotubes for biomedical applications, such as neural implant, mechanosensing, and cell transfection.

Fast-emerging electrochemical and electrokinetic systems for water treatment enable unique ion-ion selectivity mechanisms and generation of clean water and electricity simultaneously. I will present our work on unravelling of an ion size-based selectivity mechanism of nanoporous electrodes, and tuning and enhancing the achieved selectivity. I will also introduce a new class of systems which combine energy conversion and desalination, demonstrating the production of up to 23.5 kWh per m3 of desalinated water, while desalinating a feedwater of 30 g/L NaCl.

Microfluidic techniques provide new tools for liquid biopsy of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs). We develop a series of microfluidic methods, including inertial- or interfacial viscoelastic-based microfluidic cell sorters, a microfluidic thermophoretic aptasensor, and a thermophoretic sensor implemented with nanoflares, for isolation and detection of CTCs and EVs, which act as promising biomarkers for early cancer screening and cancer recurrence monitoring.

Human physiology and pathophysiology often involve systemic interactions between multiple organs or tissues, such as microbial-host interactions and metabolic crosstalk. While microfluidic platforms attractive to recapitulate these biological crosstalk, functional specifications and assay readouts must also be considered for the eventual translation of these devices. In this talk, a design thinking approach to the development of microfluidic multi-organ systems will be presented in the context of several drug testing or disease modeling scenario.