w 36 | NRS Networks cnrsI InternatIonal magazIne C EmergingScience Focusedonthemanipulationoffluidsatthesub-millimeterscale, thisnewdisciplineisfindingapplicationsinavarietyoffields. Microfluidics: A Free-Flowing Revolution BY KheIrabettayeb sample materials and reagents, thus cut- (droplets encapsulated in other droplets) MMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At the Micro-nanofluidics research network care formula. better control of-offerwhichthe drop size, for example to delay therelease of an active ingredient in a skin in Toulouse, and co-1ting costs,” explains Anne-Marie Gué ofCNRS’s LAASdirector of the Micro-nanosystems andaccording to the prestigiousicrofluidics is one of the ten technologies that willchange the world, interface of biology, chemistry, physics, and microfabrication, (GDR). LOC systems, some of which are this new science investigates fluids and their manipulation on already available on the market, are key MAkING STRIDES a very small scale, from one to a few dozen micrometers to the discipline’s expansion. The objec- In parallel, microfluidics also advances (10-6 m). It has already revolutionized a number of fields, from tive is to apply this technology to fields theoretical knowledge of small-scale fluid chemistry to biotechnology. And the best is yet to come: most like medicine (especially for diagnoses), flows. Fluids in micrometric—or even of its potential applications are still in the research phase—in- the food industry (e.g., for the detection smaller—systems behave according to cluding at CNRS, where some 40 teams are working on micro- of contaminants), or environmental distinct physical principles with a range fluidics. First developed in the early 1990s, the discipline proved protection (identifying pollutants in of previously unknown effects. What are to be of great value in genomics, which required new bioanalyti- water, etc.). Microfluidics has also proved the physical characteristics of micro- cal tools that could perform several thousand analyses simulta- highly effective for the synthesis and liquids that are in contact with solids? neously. But the discipline’s real boom came with the introduc- structuring of innovative materials, such How do they flow on the nanometric tion of LOC, for “lab-on-a-chip:” a single chip measuring a few as nanoparticles. These materials can be scale? How can a drop or bubble be square centimeters integrating an entire analysis chain that used to generate specific optical proper- manipulated within a maze of channels? normally requires large-scale laboratory equipment. ties or to create multiple emulsion systems These are some of the intriguing questions that the researchers hope to ARANGE oF APPlICATIoNS q this “lab-on-a- answer. Recent breakthroughs in the European researchers are at the forefront chip” uses a discipline include thediscovery that light, of this emerging science. Indeed, they produced by under certain conditions, can spread amagnetic field developed the first devices based on mi- microcoils to sort droplet of water across a Teflon-lined sili- croscopic fluid flow channels. “Not only cells for analysis. con surface,2or that water flows much do these tools make high-throughput faster thanpredicted in carbon nano- analyses possible, they also reduce their tubes due to reduced friction inside the duration and require smaller amounts of tubes.3 Unexpected properties like these could further expand the applications of this promising new discipline. 01.Laboratoired’analyseetd’architecturedes systèmes(CNRS/UniversitéToulouse-III/INSa Toulouse/INPToulouse). 02.S.arscott,“MovingLiquidswithLight:Photoelec- trowettingonSemiconductors,”Scientific Reports, 2011.1(184).doi:10.1038/srep00184 03.K.Falketal.,“MolecularoriginofFastwaterTrans- portinCarbonNanotubeMembranes:Superlubric- ityversusCurvatureDependentFriction,”Nano Letters,2010.10:4067-73. S-CNRS aa L - ND a ULCR contact InformatIon: © laas,toulouse. Anne-Marie Gué > anne-marie.gue@laas.fr
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