The microfabricated electrokinetic pump: a potential promising drug delivery technique

Cheng

et al. 2009

Microfluid Nanofluid

302

202

Electroosmotic pumping is receiving increasing attention in recent years owing to the rapid development in micro total analytical systems. Compared with other micropumps, electroosmotic pumps (EOPs) offer a number of advantages such as creation of constant pulse-free flows and elimination of moving parts. The flow rates and pumping pressures of EOPs matches well with micro analysis systems. The common materials and fabrication technologies make it readily integrateable with lab-on-a-chip devices. This paper reviews the recent progress on EOP fabrications and applications in order to promote the awareness of EOPs to researchers interested in using micro-and nano-fluidic devices. The pros and cons of EOPs are also discussed, which helps these researchers in designing and constructing their micro platforms.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroosmotic pumps and their applications in microfluidic systems

Cheng

et al. 2009

Microfluid Nanofluid

302

202

“…The fabricated artificial cilia consisted of electrostatically actuated polymer structures and were integrated in a microfluidic channel. Flow visualization experiments show that the integrated artificial cilia can generate substantial fluid velocities, up to 0.6 mm s 21 , in open-faced microchannels. In addition, very efficient mixing is obtained using specially designed geometrical cilia configurations in a microchannel.…”

Section: Micromixermentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering microfluidic sensor

2013

RSC Adv.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a highly sensitive detection technique used to provide information about chemical and biological trace analytes. The confocal Raman microscope makes it possible to monitor small samples in a narrow microfluidic channel, despite the fact that the scattering intensity of the Raman signal is very weak. Recently, microfluidic chip devices coupled with on-chip SERS detection method and their applications to sensitive chemical and biological analyses have attracted significant attention. In this mini-review, highlights of advances in SERS techniques, microfluidic devices and their applications on the biological/environmental analysis of minute analytes within the recent years are provided to illustrate the impact of this rapidly growing area of research.

Pharmacological Research

“…Micro-/nano-channeled electroosmotic pumps have been fabricated and characterized in view of their potential application in implantable drug-delivery devices. Most studies, however, have developed electroosmotic pumps, which employ high applied voltages to elicit liquid flow [191]. The need for high applied voltages represents a limiting factor for the development of safe self-powered drug-delivery implants.…”

Section: Implantable Drug-delivery Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling individualized therapy through nanotechnology

Sakamoto

Ven

Godin

et al. 2010

191

Individualized medicine is the healthcare strategy that rebukes the idiomatic dogma of ‘losing sight of the forest for the trees’. We are entering a new era of healthcare where it is no longer acceptable to develop and market a drug that is effective for only 80% of the patient population. The emergence of “-omic” technologies (e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and advances in systems biology are magnifying the deficiencies of standardized therapy, which often provide little treatment latitude for accommodating patient physiologic idiosyncrasies. A personalized approach to medicine is not a novel concept. Ever since the scientific community began unraveling the mysteries of the genome, the promise of discarding generic treatment regimens in favor of patient-specific therapies became more feasible and realistic. One of the major scientific impediments of this movement towards personalized medicine has been the need for technological enablement. Nanotechnology is projected to play a critical role in patient-specific therapy; however, this transition will depend heavily upon the evolutionary development of a systems biology approach to clinical medicine based upon “-omic” technology analysis and integration. This manuscript provides a forward looking assessment of the promise of nanomedicine as it pertains to individualized medicine and establishes a technology “snapshot” of the current state of nano-based products over a vast array of clinical indications and range of patient specificity. Other issues such as market driven hurdles and regulatory compliance reform are anticipated to “self-correct” in accordance to scientific advancement and healthcare demand. These peripheral, non-scientific concerns are not addressed at length in this manuscript; however they do exist, and their impact to the paradigm shifting healthcare transformation towards individualized medicine will be critical for its success.