Continuous magnetic droplets and microfluidics: generation, manipulation, synthesis and detection

Production of Highly Monodisperse Millimeter‐Sized Double‐Emulsion Droplets in a Coaxial Capillary Device

“…Highly monodisperse millimeter‐sized double‐emulsion droplets with tailored properties could hardly be obtained by bulk emulsification, including stirring or sonication, membrane emulsification, phase inversion, and capillary jet methods. In contrast, the droplet‐based microfluidic approach offered an incomparable degree of controlling over the size, shape, and internal structure of emulsion droplets , .…”

Droplet CAR-Wash: continuous picoliter-scale immunocapture and washing

“…By compartmentalizing samples in oil, two-phase segmented flow systems enable the automated handling of discretized samples through complex operations at rates of up to several kHz. [1][2][3][4] Individual droplets (fL-nL in volume) experience rapid mass transfer due to internal convective flows and short mixing distances, enhancing the speed and efficiency of in-droplet chemistry. 2,3,5 By leveraging fluorinated oils and optimized surfactants, these systems allow stable droplet production, extended storage, and sophisticated manipulation to provide performance analogous to or exceeding that of many bulk assays.…”

“…A number of reviews profile notable droplet applications in detail. 2,4,[10][11][12] Beyond these developments, integrating solid phase sample capture and manipulation can significantly extend the capabilities of microfluidics. 4,[13][14][15][16] This class of sample processing is ubiquitous in chemistry and biochemistry, retaining selected targets on a solid phase by immobilizing antibodies or complementary oligonucleotide sequences, by manipulating surface chemistry, or by using other approaches while allowing for the exchange or washing of buffers, reagents, and off-target species.…”

“…2,4,[10][11][12] Beyond these developments, integrating solid phase sample capture and manipulation can significantly extend the capabilities of microfluidics. 4,[13][14][15][16] This class of sample processing is ubiquitous in chemistry and biochemistry, retaining selected targets on a solid phase by immobilizing antibodies or complementary oligonucleotide sequences, by manipulating surface chemistry, or by using other approaches while allowing for the exchange or washing of buffers, reagents, and off-target species. [17][18][19][20][21] Clearly, sample immobilization and washing via interactions with a solid phase provides a range of important opportunities in synthesis, pre-concentration, extraction, and analytical measurements.…”

“…[17][18][19][20][21] Clearly, sample immobilization and washing via interactions with a solid phase provides a range of important opportunities in synthesis, pre-concentration, extraction, and analytical measurements. 4,13,15 For example, a powerful bioanalytical technique, the (heterogeneous phase) immunoassay, leverages a sequence of washing and reagent exchange steps to provide an important method for clinical protein quantitation. 13,18 To empower these capabilities in integrated droplet-based microfluidic devices, magnetic fields have provided a popular choice of flow-orthogonal force for selective manipulation of the solid phase.…”