ABSTRACT
A microuidic device can be identi‰ed by the fact that it has one or more channels with at least one dimension less than 1 mm. Common uids used in microuidic devices include whole-blood samples, bacterial cell suspensions, protein or antibody solutions, and various buffers. Microuidic devices can be used to obtain a variety of interesting measurements, including molecular diffusion coef‰cients, uid viscosity, pH, chemical binding coef‰cients, and enzyme reaction kinetics. Other applications for microuidic devices include capillary electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing, immunoassays, ow cytometry, sample injection of proteins for analysis via mass spectrometry, PCR ampli‰cation, DNA analysis, cell manipulation, cell separation, cell patterning, and chemical gradient formation. Many of these applications have utility for clinical diagnostics. Microchannels and chambers are essential components of any such system. In addition to connecting different devices, microchannels are also used for reactant delivery, as bio/chemical reaction chambers, in physical particle separation, in inkjet print heads, or as heat exchangers for cooling computer chips.
