Current Trends in Microfabrication Techniques for Lab-on-a-Chip and Biomedical Microdevices, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B:Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 1505

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past three decades, microfabrication and microfluidic technologies have experienced remarkable advancements and sparked a broad range of applications, including in vitro diagnostics, drug delivery, infectious diseases, and numerous other fields. The fabrication of microfluidic devices has benefited from the well-established semiconductor microfabrication technology for creating planar miniaturized features with unprecedented high precision and high throughput capabilities. These “flat” microfluidic devices enable the handling of minute amounts of fluids as low as a few picoliters in a network of microchannels and manipulation of various biochemical reactions at very small volumes. Since its introduction by George Whitesides in 1998, soft lithography, particularly in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), became the dominant fabrication technique for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices. Soft lithography offers a straightforward and efficient process, paving the way for its widespread adoption across academia and research labs. However, these fabrication techniques still lack standards that govern possible mass production. Various emerging fabrication techniques, such as molding, 3D printing, and nanofabrication, have shown promise in overcoming the limitations of traditional soft lithography in terms of versatility, scalability, and the ability to work with a wider range of materials and geometries (e.g., 3D structures).

We are delighted to announce this Special Issue, which intends to include the most relevant research in microfluidic/biomedical microdevice fabrication, from state-of-the-art contributions to critical reviews on the topic that will highlight the new advances in this field.

Dr. Qasem Ramadan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • novel fabrication materials
  • fabrication techniques (molding, 3D printing, nanofabrication, hot embossing, etc.)
  • integration
  • sensor integration
  • three-dimensional microfluidics
  • hybrid devices
  • membrane-based microfluidic devices
  • paper-based microfluidic devices
  • fluid handling and automation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 3503 KiB  
Article
A Modular, Cost-Effective, and Pumpless Perfusion Assembly for the Long-Term Culture of Engineered Microvessels
by Shashwat S. Agarwal, Jacob C. Holter, Travis H. Jones, Brendan T. Fuller, Joseph W. Tinapple, Joseph M. Barlage and Jonathan W. Song
Micromachines 2025, 16(3), 351; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16030351 - 19 Mar 2025
Viewed by 1201
Abstract
Continuous perfusion is necessary to sustain microphysiological systems and other microfluidic cell cultures. However, most of the established microfluidic perfusion systems, such as syringe pumps, peristaltic pumps, and rocker plates, have several operational challenges and may be cost-prohibitive, especially for laboratories with no [...] Read more.
Continuous perfusion is necessary to sustain microphysiological systems and other microfluidic cell cultures. However, most of the established microfluidic perfusion systems, such as syringe pumps, peristaltic pumps, and rocker plates, have several operational challenges and may be cost-prohibitive, especially for laboratories with no microsystems engineering expertise. Here, we address the need for a cost-efficient, easy-to-implement, and reliable microfluidic perfusion system. Our solution is a modular pumpless perfusion assembly (PPA), which is constructed from commercially available, interchangeable, and aseptically packaged syringes and syringe filters. The total cost for the components of each assembled PPA is USD 1–2. The PPA retains the simplicity of gravity-based pumpless flow systems but incorporates high resistance filters that enable slow and sustained flow for extended periods of time (hours to days). The perfusion characteristics of the PPA were determined by theoretical calculations of the total hydraulic resistance of the assembly and experimental characterization of specific filter resistances. We demonstrated that the PPA enabled reliable long-term culture of engineered endothelialized 3-D microvessels for several weeks. Taken together, our novel PPA solution is simply constructed from extremely low-cost and commercially available laboratory supplies and facilitates robust cell culture and compatibility with current microfluidic setups. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop