Microfluidic Platforms for Biological and Pharmaceutical Applications

Recently, there has been a large emphasis on miniaturization of devices for a multitude of applications, including biomedical technologies, due to the many advantages of operating on this scale. In addition to the inherent benefit of a fully functioning device that can be held in one hand, these microfluidic devices only require small biological samples, which can be often difficult to obtain, and can be built inexpensively. Perhaps most importantly, flow and mass transport behavior diverge from what typically occurs at larger scales and produce a highly controllable and reproducible fluidic environment in both local flow and chemical concentration. The small lengths and volumes also promote faster mass transfer, enabling micro-designs capable of performing highly sensitive and rapid analyses. Studies of the fundamental fluid flow are essential to the development of optimized microdevices. In my work, I explore the interrelationship of mass transport and fluid flow in order to understand how the behavior can be harnessed in microfluidic platforms for biological and pharmaceutical applications