Design and Application of Microfluidic Biosensors in Biomedicine

A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 2518

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
Interests: droplet; single-cell analysis; ScDNAseq; ScRNAseq; biomaterials; microfluidics commercialization
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Guest Editor
College of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100, China
Interests: microfluidics, cell mechanics; cancer metastasis; laser processing

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Guest Editor
Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Interests: droplet; microparticles; microfluidics; integrated systems; organ-on-a-chip; microvasculature

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microfluidic biosensors are transforming biomedicine by enabling the rapid, sensitive, and highly specific analyses of complex biological samples. By integrating fluidics with molecular detection elements, these miniaturized platforms pave the way for advanced nucleic acid and single-cell analyses, revealing previously unseen biological heterogeneity. Such insights enhance biomarker detection and monitoring, ultimately supporting more personalized healthcare strategies and the understanding of complex disease mechanisms.

High-throughput technologies built on microfluidic principles are accelerating research and discovery. By enabling the parallel screening of numerous targets, these platforms significantly increase the speed and efficiency of analysis. This approach drives major advancements in point-of-care microdevices where rapid and reliable results guide timely interventions in both clinical and remote settings. At the same time, the ongoing commercialization of microfluidics is moving these innovations beyond the laboratory, making sophisticated biosensing solutions more accessible and encouraging their widespread use in everyday medical practice.

This Special Issue, “Design and Application of Microfluidic Biosensors in Biomedicine”, will highlight the latest techonologies, novel designs, and advanced applications of these devices. By focusing on design principles, integration strategies, and cutting-edge analytical capabilities, we aim to showcase how microfluidic biosensors are advancing the frontiers of biomedicine.

Dr. Hangrui Liu
Dr. Tianlong Zhang
Dr. Yuxin Zhang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • high-throughput technologies
  • antibody
  • nucleic acid analysis
  • single-cell analysis
  • microfluidic separation
  • pathogen detection and monitoring
  • biomarker detection and monitoring
  • disease diagnostics
  • point-of-care microdevices
  • commercialization

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3042 KiB  
Article
Intelligent Microfluidics for Plasma Separation: Integrating Computational Fluid Dynamics and Machine Learning for Optimized Microchannel Design
by Kavita Manekar, Manish L. Bhaiyya, Meghana A. Hasamnis and Madhusudan B. Kulkarni
Biosensors 2025, 15(2), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15020094 - 6 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1158
Abstract
Efficient separation of blood plasma and Packed Cell Volume (PCV) is vital for rapid blood sensing and early disease detection, especially in point-of-care and resource-limited environments. Conventional centrifugation methods for separation are resource-intensive, time-consuming, and off-chip, necessitating innovative alternatives. This study introduces “Intelligent [...] Read more.
Efficient separation of blood plasma and Packed Cell Volume (PCV) is vital for rapid blood sensing and early disease detection, especially in point-of-care and resource-limited environments. Conventional centrifugation methods for separation are resource-intensive, time-consuming, and off-chip, necessitating innovative alternatives. This study introduces “Intelligent Microfluidics”, an ML-integrated microfluidic platform designed to optimize plasma separation through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The trifurcation microchannel, modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics, achieved plasma yields of 90–95% across varying inflow velocities (0.0001–0.05 m/s). The input fluid parameters mimic the blood viscosity and density used with appropriate boundary conditions and fluid dynamics to optimize the designed microchannels. Eight supervised ML algorithms, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), were employed to predict key performance parameters, with ANN achieving the highest predictive accuracy (R2 = 0.97). Unlike traditional methods, this platform demonstrates scalability, portability, and rapid diagnostic potential, revolutionizing clinical workflows by enabling efficient plasma separation for real-time, point-of-care diagnostics. By incorporating a detailed comparative analysis with previous studies, including computational efficiency, our work underscores the superior performance of ML-enhanced microfluidic systems. The platform’s robust and adaptable design is particularly promising for healthcare applications in remote or resource-constrained settings where rapid and reliable diagnostic tools are urgently needed. This novel approach establishes a foundation for developing next-generation, portable diagnostic technologies tailored to clinical demands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Application of Microfluidic Biosensors in Biomedicine)
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15 pages, 12145 KiB  
Article
A Microfluidic Biosensor for Quantitative Detection of Salmonella in Traditional Chinese Medicine
by Yutong Wu, Yang Liu, Jinchen Ma, Shanxi Zhu, Xiaojun Zhao, Huawei Mou, Xuanqi Ke, Zhisheng Wu, Yifei Wang, Sheng Lin and Wuzhen Qi
Biosensors 2025, 15(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15010010 - 27 Dec 2024
Viewed by 989
Abstract
Microbial contamination is an important factor threatening the safety of Chinese medicine preparations, and microfluidic detection methods have demonstrated excellent advantages in the application of rapid bacterial detection. In our study, a novel optical biosensor was developed for the rapid and sensitive detection [...] Read more.
Microbial contamination is an important factor threatening the safety of Chinese medicine preparations, and microfluidic detection methods have demonstrated excellent advantages in the application of rapid bacterial detection. In our study, a novel optical biosensor was developed for the rapid and sensitive detection of Salmonella in traditional Chinese medicine on a microfluidic chip. Immune gold@platinum nanocatalysts (Au@PtNCs) were utilized for specific bacterial labeling, while magnetic nano-beads (MNBs) with a novel high-gradient magnetic field were employed for the specific capture of bacteria. The immune MNBs, immune Au@PtNCs, and bacterial samples were introduced into a novel passive microfluidic micromixer for full mixing, resulting in the formation of a double-antibody sandwich structure due to antigen–antibody immune reactions. Subsequently, the mixture flowed into the reaction cell, where the MNBs-Salmonella-Au@PtNCs complex was captured by the magnetic field. After washing, hydrogen peroxide-tetramethylbenzidine substrate (H2O2-TMB) was added, reacting with the Au@PtNCs peroxidase to produce a blue reaction product. This entire process was automated using a portable device, and Salmonella concentration was analyzed via a phone application. This simple biosensor has good specificity with a detection range of 9 × 101–9 × 105 CFU/mL and can detect Salmonella concentrations as low as 90 CFU/mL within 74 min. The average recoveries of the spiked samples ranged from 76.8% to 109.5% Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Application of Microfluidic Biosensors in Biomedicine)
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