Exploiting smart hydrogels in biotechnological applications of microfluidics

MADRID, ROSSANA; GOY, CARLA B.; GIANNI, KATIA

SMART SYSTEMS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

Taylor & Francis Group

Año: 2024; p. 91 - 114

Microfluidic refers to the science and technology of fluids at the microscale. The technological branch of microfluidic refers to little microsystems that allow working with very small volumes of fluids -micro or nanoliters-, having precise control over the spatiotemporal dynamics of the microenvironment. Some advantages of this technology involve integration, automation, the parallelism of processes, and high sensitivity. Also, the small dimensions of the channels achieve a substantial reduction in the sample volume and the use and cost of reagents, while the integration of several processes inside one chip reduces user intervention and time. The traditional conception of microfluidic devices considers them as little laboratories on a chip (lab-on-a-chip), with the ability to perform several analytical processes with high efficiency and repeatability. The final goal of these systems is to perform real-time sample analysis in the location where the sample is taken (point of care -PoC-) without requiring specialized equipment and personnel. Nowadays, the use of these devices is ubiquitous, being the principal application fields: biology, medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, agroindustry, and environment.