Active Manipulation and control of droplet-based Microfluidics

In a few decades from now, droplet-based microfluidics could be the key technology for gathering extensive information from chemical and biochemical analysis, diagnosis to therapeutics. Microfluidics is primary the science and technology dealing with fluidic phenomena on the microscale. The small size of microfluidic devices reduces the amount of samples and reagents needed by several orders of magnitude. The approach in microfluidics research is the scaling down of conventional laboratory equipment and processes which on one-hand reduces the cost and the other accelerate the processes. The fundamental advantage of droplet-based microfluidics is that a continuous stream of a fluid carrying samples is divided into very small volumes ranging from nanoliters to picoliters. Different chemicals and biological samples can be encapsulated and manipulated. In this talk, I will demonstrate different methods that I have developed to actively manipulate and control droplets.