Directional liquid manipulation underpins critical processes across nature and engineering, where targeted functionality demands precise control over fluid behaviour. While fundamental theories for liquid manipulation are well-established, optimizing control along application-specific minimal-path trajectories remains a significant challenge. This review discusses recent advances in bioinspired strategies and engineered manipulators enabling superior liquid directional control across dimensional frameworks: 1D trajectories for targeted delivery, 2D planes for complex transport, and 3D spaces for programmable interfaces. Drawing on nature's energy-efficient principles, from Laplace pressure gradients to capillary effects, we decode evolutionary-optimized liquid manipulation mechanisms and their translation into dimension-specific artificial systems. These manipulators achieve precise liquid guidance through simplified asymmetric architectures, enhancing liquid utilization efficiency. Finally, we outline design paradigms for next-generation on-demand liquid control systems, bridging interfacial phenomena with microfluidic, thermal, and environmental technologies.
{"title":"Structure-enabled liquid manipulation: bioinspired control across all dimensions.","authors":"Siqi Sun,Liqiu Wang,Yiyuan Zhang","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00828j","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00828j","url":null,"abstract":"Directional liquid manipulation underpins critical processes across nature and engineering, where targeted functionality demands precise control over fluid behaviour. While fundamental theories for liquid manipulation are well-established, optimizing control along application-specific minimal-path trajectories remains a significant challenge. This review discusses recent advances in bioinspired strategies and engineered manipulators enabling superior liquid directional control across dimensional frameworks: 1D trajectories for targeted delivery, 2D planes for complex transport, and 3D spaces for programmable interfaces. Drawing on nature's energy-efficient principles, from Laplace pressure gradients to capillary effects, we decode evolutionary-optimized liquid manipulation mechanisms and their translation into dimension-specific artificial systems. These manipulators achieve precise liquid guidance through simplified asymmetric architectures, enhancing liquid utilization efficiency. Finally, we outline design paradigms for next-generation on-demand liquid control systems, bridging interfacial phenomena with microfluidic, thermal, and environmental technologies.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julieta Nava-Granados,Katherine Vasquez,Bryan U Medina,Catherine Wang,Jose R Moreto,Juliane Sempionatto
The integration of microfluidics into wearable biosensors has enabled real-time, non-invasive access to physiological information through biofluids such as sweat, saliva, tears, and interstitial fluid (ISF). However, the successful design and fabrication of microfluidic systems for wearables requires interdisciplinary expertise in fluid dynamics, materials science, microfabrication, and device integration. These significant barriers can hinder rapid innovation and adoption. This review aims to serve as a guide for researchers and engineers developing microfluidic systems for wearable applications. We provide a step-by-step overview of microfluidic design principles, material selection, fabrication methods, and strategies for fluid handling and sampling. Attention is given to the constraints and opportunities unique to wearable formats, such as flexibility, biocompatibility, and integration with sensors and electronics. We also highlight future trends in the field, including the integration with artificial intelligence (AI), design automation, and novel flow control technologies. By providing clear guidance on the design and implementation process, this review seeks to accelerate the development of microfluidic platforms for continuous health monitoring.
{"title":"Flow by design: a guided review of microfluidics for wearable biosensors.","authors":"Julieta Nava-Granados,Katherine Vasquez,Bryan U Medina,Catherine Wang,Jose R Moreto,Juliane Sempionatto","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00628g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00628g","url":null,"abstract":"The integration of microfluidics into wearable biosensors has enabled real-time, non-invasive access to physiological information through biofluids such as sweat, saliva, tears, and interstitial fluid (ISF). However, the successful design and fabrication of microfluidic systems for wearables requires interdisciplinary expertise in fluid dynamics, materials science, microfabrication, and device integration. These significant barriers can hinder rapid innovation and adoption. This review aims to serve as a guide for researchers and engineers developing microfluidic systems for wearable applications. We provide a step-by-step overview of microfluidic design principles, material selection, fabrication methods, and strategies for fluid handling and sampling. Attention is given to the constraints and opportunities unique to wearable formats, such as flexibility, biocompatibility, and integration with sensors and electronics. We also highlight future trends in the field, including the integration with artificial intelligence (AI), design automation, and novel flow control technologies. By providing clear guidance on the design and implementation process, this review seeks to accelerate the development of microfluidic platforms for continuous health monitoring.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The transition to sustainable energy is crucial for mitigating climate change impacts, with hydrogen and carbon storage and utilization technologies playing pivotal roles. This review highlights the integral and useful role of microfluidic technologies in advancing subsurface fluid dynamics for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and underground hydrogen storage (UHS). In particular, microfluidic platforms provide clear and insightful visualization of fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interactions at the pore scale, crucial for understanding and further optimizing processes for CO2 sequestration, hydrogen storage, and oil displacement in various geological formations. We first discuss the development of lab-on-a-chip devices that accurately mimic subsurface conditions, allowing detailed studies of complex phenomena including viscous fingering, capillary trapping, phase behavior during CCUS and EOR processes, and the hysteresis effects unique to hydrogen storage cycles. We also discuss the dynamics of CO2 gas and foam in enhancing oil recovery and the innovative use of hydrogen foam to mitigate issues associated with pure hydrogen gas storage. The integration of advanced imaging, spectroscopic techniques, and machine learning (ML) with microfluidic experiments has enriched our understanding and opened new pathways for predictive capabilities and operational optimization in CCUS, EOR, and UHS applications. We further emphasize the critical need for continued research into microfluidic applications, e.g., incorporating state-of-the-art ML to optimize microfluidic experiments and parameters, and UHS enhancement through favorable microbial activities and suppression of reactions in H2 foam, aiming at refining storage strategies and exploiting the full potential of these technologies towards a sustainable energy future.
{"title":"Lab-on-a-chip insights: advancing subsurface flow applications in carbon management and hydrogen storage.","authors":"Junyi Yang,Nikoo Moradpour,Lap Au-Yeung,Peichun Amy Tsai","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00428d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00428d","url":null,"abstract":"The transition to sustainable energy is crucial for mitigating climate change impacts, with hydrogen and carbon storage and utilization technologies playing pivotal roles. This review highlights the integral and useful role of microfluidic technologies in advancing subsurface fluid dynamics for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and underground hydrogen storage (UHS). In particular, microfluidic platforms provide clear and insightful visualization of fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interactions at the pore scale, crucial for understanding and further optimizing processes for CO2 sequestration, hydrogen storage, and oil displacement in various geological formations. We first discuss the development of lab-on-a-chip devices that accurately mimic subsurface conditions, allowing detailed studies of complex phenomena including viscous fingering, capillary trapping, phase behavior during CCUS and EOR processes, and the hysteresis effects unique to hydrogen storage cycles. We also discuss the dynamics of CO2 gas and foam in enhancing oil recovery and the innovative use of hydrogen foam to mitigate issues associated with pure hydrogen gas storage. The integration of advanced imaging, spectroscopic techniques, and machine learning (ML) with microfluidic experiments has enriched our understanding and opened new pathways for predictive capabilities and operational optimization in CCUS, EOR, and UHS applications. We further emphasize the critical need for continued research into microfluidic applications, e.g., incorporating state-of-the-art ML to optimize microfluidic experiments and parameters, and UHS enhancement through favorable microbial activities and suppression of reactions in H2 foam, aiming at refining storage strategies and exploiting the full potential of these technologies towards a sustainable energy future.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The lymphatic system-integral to fluid balance, immune surveillance, and lipid absorption-is frequently overlooked despite its vital roles. Traditional research modalities, including static two-dimensional cultures and animal models, have illuminated key molecular and cellular features but fall short in recapitulating human lymphatic function, due to limited physiological relevance, throughput, and mechanobiological complexity. Recent advances in microfluidic organ-on-a-chip systems offer biomimetic platforms that integrate three-dimensional architecture, fluid flow, and biomechanical stimuli alongside human lymphatic endothelial and supporting cells. These lymphatics-on-a-chip constructs faithfully reproduce dynamic behaviors such as fluid drainage, junction remodeling, and cell trafficking under physiological and pathological responses. This review highlights the foundational lymphatic biology and engineering principles behind these devices, their capacity for disease modeling and drug testing, and their potential to drive future innovation through induced pluripotent stem cell integration, organ-specific customization, and computational modeling. Merging bioengineering, cell biology, and machine learning, lymphatic microphysiological systems stand poised to significantly expand our understanding and treatment of lymphatic-related disorders.
{"title":"Lymphatics-on-a-chip microphysiological system: engineering lymphatic structure and function in vitro.","authors":"Yansong Peng,Esak Lee","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00875a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00875a","url":null,"abstract":"The lymphatic system-integral to fluid balance, immune surveillance, and lipid absorption-is frequently overlooked despite its vital roles. Traditional research modalities, including static two-dimensional cultures and animal models, have illuminated key molecular and cellular features but fall short in recapitulating human lymphatic function, due to limited physiological relevance, throughput, and mechanobiological complexity. Recent advances in microfluidic organ-on-a-chip systems offer biomimetic platforms that integrate three-dimensional architecture, fluid flow, and biomechanical stimuli alongside human lymphatic endothelial and supporting cells. These lymphatics-on-a-chip constructs faithfully reproduce dynamic behaviors such as fluid drainage, junction remodeling, and cell trafficking under physiological and pathological responses. This review highlights the foundational lymphatic biology and engineering principles behind these devices, their capacity for disease modeling and drug testing, and their potential to drive future innovation through induced pluripotent stem cell integration, organ-specific customization, and computational modeling. Merging bioengineering, cell biology, and machine learning, lymphatic microphysiological systems stand poised to significantly expand our understanding and treatment of lymphatic-related disorders.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Microfluidics has offered invaluable insight into diagnostics and point-of-care applications due to its small footprint, low costs, and minimal power requirements. As cellular manufacturing has shown significant promise for treating previously insurmountable diseases, microfluidics has expanded its reach into immunotherapy and regenerative medicine with a clinical perspective. Conventional methods to reprogram a target cell to improve prognosis, while innovative on their own, face challenges that miniaturized systems are poised to address. Here, we provide an overview of microfluidic-based technology that highlights significant strides within the field of cell manufacturing to treat cancer and degenerative diseases. We highlight commonly used mechanisms to isolate, transfect, and expand target cells in microfluidic devices. We discuss specific innovative microfluidic-based approaches that demonstrate comparable or exceptional performance compared to traditional methods.
{"title":"Microfluidics for cell therapy and manufacturing in oncology and regenerative medicine.","authors":"Josie L Duncan,Julio P Arroyo,Rafael V Davalos","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00492f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00492f","url":null,"abstract":"Microfluidics has offered invaluable insight into diagnostics and point-of-care applications due to its small footprint, low costs, and minimal power requirements. As cellular manufacturing has shown significant promise for treating previously insurmountable diseases, microfluidics has expanded its reach into immunotherapy and regenerative medicine with a clinical perspective. Conventional methods to reprogram a target cell to improve prognosis, while innovative on their own, face challenges that miniaturized systems are poised to address. Here, we provide an overview of microfluidic-based technology that highlights significant strides within the field of cell manufacturing to treat cancer and degenerative diseases. We highlight commonly used mechanisms to isolate, transfect, and expand target cells in microfluidic devices. We discuss specific innovative microfluidic-based approaches that demonstrate comparable or exceptional performance compared to traditional methods.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Feng Zhang,Ganggang Zhao,Qunle Ouyang,Sicheng Chen,Zheng Yan
Wearable biosensing technologies are transforming healthcare by enabling continuous, real-time monitoring of physiological states at the point of care. Flexible microfluidics, particularly paper-based microfluidics, serve as critical interfaces between the body and soft electronics, enabling precise, capillary-driven, and non-invasive biofluid handling for real-time and clinically informative diagnostics. In this review, we discuss the fundamentals of paper-based microfluidics, highlighting critical considerations in material design, structural regulation, and interface engineering for precise capillary flow manipulation. We revisit fabrication techniques and key milestones in developing paper-based microfluidic devices, emphasizing innovative on-skin applications for wearable biofluid sampling, biosensing, and disease diagnostics. Finally, we outline persistent challenges that need to be addressed in the clinical translation of paper-based microfluidics for wearable healthcare and discuss future perspectives, including advances in paper materials engineering, integration with machine learning algorithms, and Internet-of-Things, to enable the next-generation personalized wearable healthcare solutions.
{"title":"Paper-based microfluidics for wearable soft bioelectronics.","authors":"Feng Zhang,Ganggang Zhao,Qunle Ouyang,Sicheng Chen,Zheng Yan","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00754b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00754b","url":null,"abstract":"Wearable biosensing technologies are transforming healthcare by enabling continuous, real-time monitoring of physiological states at the point of care. Flexible microfluidics, particularly paper-based microfluidics, serve as critical interfaces between the body and soft electronics, enabling precise, capillary-driven, and non-invasive biofluid handling for real-time and clinically informative diagnostics. In this review, we discuss the fundamentals of paper-based microfluidics, highlighting critical considerations in material design, structural regulation, and interface engineering for precise capillary flow manipulation. We revisit fabrication techniques and key milestones in developing paper-based microfluidic devices, emphasizing innovative on-skin applications for wearable biofluid sampling, biosensing, and disease diagnostics. Finally, we outline persistent challenges that need to be addressed in the clinical translation of paper-based microfluidics for wearable healthcare and discuss future perspectives, including advances in paper materials engineering, integration with machine learning algorithms, and Internet-of-Things, to enable the next-generation personalized wearable healthcare solutions.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Microfluidic sensing has long been dominated by chemical approaches that usually rely on fluorescent labels or specific reagents to achieve high specificity. However, these methods often require complex preparation and suffer from limited real-time capability, challenges that become more pronounced in wearable and portable platforms. In contrast, physical sensing offers a complementary route by detecting variations in mechanical, acoustic, optical, or thermal properties directly, enabling label-free, faster, and more robust operation. Under this background, microcavity architectures stand out as one promising option among various physical sensing designs. By spatially confining and enhancing physical signals at the miniature scale, microcavities can sharpen detection resolution and extend dynamic range. These gains are further elevated through the use of tailored materials and are reinforced by fabrication strategies that deliver precise geometry control and adaptable functionality. Harnessing such features, microcavity-based systems have been leveraged in fields ranging from high-resolution tactile sensing in soft robotics to wearable healthcare and human-machine interaction. This review surveys recent progress in materials, fabrication methods, and sensing mechanisms for microcavity-assisted microfluidic physical sensors, and discusses future directions toward broader adoption and scalable deployment.
{"title":"Microcavity-assisted microfluidic physical sensors: materials, structures, and multifunctional applications.","authors":"Xinyi Qu,Jianfeng Ma,Degong Zeng,Jinan Luo,Jingzhi Wu,Chuting Liu,Zhikang Deng,Lvjie Chen,Rongkuan Han,Yancong Qiao,Jianhua Zhou","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00822k","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00822k","url":null,"abstract":"Microfluidic sensing has long been dominated by chemical approaches that usually rely on fluorescent labels or specific reagents to achieve high specificity. However, these methods often require complex preparation and suffer from limited real-time capability, challenges that become more pronounced in wearable and portable platforms. In contrast, physical sensing offers a complementary route by detecting variations in mechanical, acoustic, optical, or thermal properties directly, enabling label-free, faster, and more robust operation. Under this background, microcavity architectures stand out as one promising option among various physical sensing designs. By spatially confining and enhancing physical signals at the miniature scale, microcavities can sharpen detection resolution and extend dynamic range. These gains are further elevated through the use of tailored materials and are reinforced by fabrication strategies that deliver precise geometry control and adaptable functionality. Harnessing such features, microcavity-based systems have been leveraged in fields ranging from high-resolution tactile sensing in soft robotics to wearable healthcare and human-machine interaction. This review surveys recent progress in materials, fabrication methods, and sensing mechanisms for microcavity-assisted microfluidic physical sensors, and discusses future directions toward broader adoption and scalable deployment.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Beyond conventional locomotion methods such as walking and swimming, flying remains an unconquered frontier for responsive materials. Current aerial vehicles, which rely on electric motors or actuators, face challenges in terms of power density and miniaturization. Nature, however, offers inspiration: wind-assisted passive flight mechanisms seen in seeds provide highly energy-efficient models for microroboticists. This review highlights interdisciplinary efforts aimed at harnessing responsive thin films to create aerial systems with mid-air controllability and robotic capabilities. We explore biological designs for wind-dispersed flyers, the underlying flight mechanisms, and materials for shape-morphing and robotic flight control. Additionally, we examine the potential for onboard sensing and discuss the risks and challenges facing this emerging research field.
{"title":"Light driven polymer thin films as flying robotic chips in the sky.","authors":"Jianfeng Yang,Hao Zeng","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00900f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00900f","url":null,"abstract":"Beyond conventional locomotion methods such as walking and swimming, flying remains an unconquered frontier for responsive materials. Current aerial vehicles, which rely on electric motors or actuators, face challenges in terms of power density and miniaturization. Nature, however, offers inspiration: wind-assisted passive flight mechanisms seen in seeds provide highly energy-efficient models for microroboticists. This review highlights interdisciplinary efforts aimed at harnessing responsive thin films to create aerial systems with mid-air controllability and robotic capabilities. We explore biological designs for wind-dispersed flyers, the underlying flight mechanisms, and materials for shape-morphing and robotic flight control. Additionally, we examine the potential for onboard sensing and discuss the risks and challenges facing this emerging research field.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kathryn G Maskell,Anthony L Cook,Anna E King,Tracey C Dickson,Catherine A Blizzard
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a rapidly progressing, fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes selective degeneration of the corticomotor system. Currently, ALS remains incurable, and the available treatment options offer little in the way of extending life or improving quality of life. This is due, at least in part, to a lack of representative disease models. In vitro modeling offers rapid, experimentally accessible platforms for mechanistic discovery research and drug screening, but modeling the complexity of ALS - a multicellular, multisystem disease - in a dish, is not without its challenges. Here, we review the current landscape of in vitro pre-clinical ALS research, with emphasis on the development of compartmentalised culture and the promise this holds for translatable modeling of ALS.
{"title":"Modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in vitro: from mechanistic studies to translatable drug discovery.","authors":"Kathryn G Maskell,Anthony L Cook,Anna E King,Tracey C Dickson,Catherine A Blizzard","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00577a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00577a","url":null,"abstract":"Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a rapidly progressing, fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes selective degeneration of the corticomotor system. Currently, ALS remains incurable, and the available treatment options offer little in the way of extending life or improving quality of life. This is due, at least in part, to a lack of representative disease models. In vitro modeling offers rapid, experimentally accessible platforms for mechanistic discovery research and drug screening, but modeling the complexity of ALS - a multicellular, multisystem disease - in a dish, is not without its challenges. Here, we review the current landscape of in vitro pre-clinical ALS research, with emphasis on the development of compartmentalised culture and the promise this holds for translatable modeling of ALS.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muhammad Soban Khan,Raihan Hadi Julio,Mushtaq Ali,Sebastian Sachs,Christian Cierpka,Jörg König,Jinsoo Park
Shape-based separation of micro- and nanoparticles has emerged as a powerful yet underdeveloped strategy in microfluidics, offering distinct advantages over conventional size-based methods, particularly for biomedical and functional material applications. Unlike size-based separation, shape-based approaches enable discrimination between particles of identical volume but differing morphology, an essential capability for isolating pathological cells, engineered particles, or anisotropic biological entities whose function is inherently linked to shape. This review provides a comprehensive and critical overview of recent progress in both passive and active microfluidic platforms tailored for shape-selective separation. Passive systems such as deterministic lateral displacement, pinched flow fractionation, inertial, and viscoelastic microfluidics exploit hydrodynamic and flow-structure interactions, while active methods including dielectrophoresis, magnetophoresis, optophoresis, and acoustophoresis utilize external fields to modulate particle trajectories based on geometric anisotropy. For example, recent advancements demonstrate high purities often exceeding 95%, with throughput rates ranging from several microliters to milliliters per minute depending on the device configuration, achieving shape-based cell and particle sorting efficiencies above 90% under optimal conditions. For each technique, we highlight the underlying mechanisms enabling shape sensitivity, key technological advancements, and emerging trends in experimental and computational approaches. We also discuss the challenges in capturing complex particle behaviors such as rotation, alignment, and deformability and emphasize the need for integrated modeling, real-time control, and system-level optimization. Finally, we outline future directions and opportunities for advancing shape-based microfluidic separation toward scalable, high-precision applications in diagnostics, therapeutics, and materials science.
{"title":"Microfluidic shape-based separation for cells and particles: recent progress and future perspective.","authors":"Muhammad Soban Khan,Raihan Hadi Julio,Mushtaq Ali,Sebastian Sachs,Christian Cierpka,Jörg König,Jinsoo Park","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00826c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00826c","url":null,"abstract":"Shape-based separation of micro- and nanoparticles has emerged as a powerful yet underdeveloped strategy in microfluidics, offering distinct advantages over conventional size-based methods, particularly for biomedical and functional material applications. Unlike size-based separation, shape-based approaches enable discrimination between particles of identical volume but differing morphology, an essential capability for isolating pathological cells, engineered particles, or anisotropic biological entities whose function is inherently linked to shape. This review provides a comprehensive and critical overview of recent progress in both passive and active microfluidic platforms tailored for shape-selective separation. Passive systems such as deterministic lateral displacement, pinched flow fractionation, inertial, and viscoelastic microfluidics exploit hydrodynamic and flow-structure interactions, while active methods including dielectrophoresis, magnetophoresis, optophoresis, and acoustophoresis utilize external fields to modulate particle trajectories based on geometric anisotropy. For example, recent advancements demonstrate high purities often exceeding 95%, with throughput rates ranging from several microliters to milliliters per minute depending on the device configuration, achieving shape-based cell and particle sorting efficiencies above 90% under optimal conditions. For each technique, we highlight the underlying mechanisms enabling shape sensitivity, key technological advancements, and emerging trends in experimental and computational approaches. We also discuss the challenges in capturing complex particle behaviors such as rotation, alignment, and deformability and emphasize the need for integrated modeling, real-time control, and system-level optimization. Finally, we outline future directions and opportunities for advancing shape-based microfluidic separation toward scalable, high-precision applications in diagnostics, therapeutics, and materials science.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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