Viscoelastic Particle Focusing and Separation in a Spiral Channel.

As one type of non-Newtonian fluid, viscoelastic fluids exhibit unique properties that contribute to particle lateral migration in confined microfluidic channels, leading to opportunities for particle manipulation and separation. In this paper, particle focusing in viscoelastic flow is studied in a wide range of polyethylene glycol (PEO) concentrations in aqueous solutions. Polystyrene beads with diameters from 3 to 20 μm are tested, and the variation of particle focusing position is explained by the coeffects of inertial flow, viscoelastic flow, and Dean flow.

An automated instrument for intrauterine insemination sperm preparation.

Sperm preparation is critical to achieving a successful intrauterine insemination and requires the processing of a semen sample to remove white blood cells, wash away seminal plasma, and reduce sample volume. We present an automated instrument capable of performing a sperm preparation starting with a diluted semen sample. We compare our device against a density gradient centrifugation by processing 0.

Instrumentation for xPCR Incorporating qPCR and HRMA.

A microfluidic PCR device was developed that enables DNA amplification at speeds as fast as 2 s/cycle, with concurrent detection and amplification. Two targets were amplified from human genomic DNA. By observing the fluorescence emitted by a DNA dye while the sample is amplified, it is possible to obtain both qPCR and spatial melting information about the amplified product.