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Micromachines
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Microfluidics for Soft Matter and Mechanobiology, Volume II
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Microfluidics for Soft Matter and Mechanobiology, Volume II

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2023) | Viewed by 7819

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sung Sik Lee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Scientific Center for Optical and Electron Microscopy, ETH Zurich, CH 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
Interests: soft matter; viscoelastic microfluidics; droplet microfluidics; mechanobiology; single cell analysis; bio-printing; hydrogel; rheology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jae Bem You

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Interests: microfluidics; interfacial phenomena; soft matter; droplets; surface engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microfluidics has served as a useful platform to understand the material properties and technical applications of soft matter, including hydrogels, polymer solutions, emulsions, and colloidal suspensions. The study of the characteristics of soft matter, like viscoelasticity, non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, and deformation has greatly benefitted from using microfluidics to accurately control conditions in time and space. Under constrained microfluidic conditions, the dynamics of soft matter are monitored by direct visualization or by microrheology to track and quantify the movement of probes.

Microfluidics has also served as a useful platform to study biological cell and tissues systems, including mechanobiology. Using microfluidics, external mechanical stress is regulated in physiologically-relevant systems for studying cells, tissues and organisms to understand how mechanical cues are sensed and transduced into biochemical and electrical signals that influence mechano-transduction in processes such as cell proliferation, migration and fate determination. Furthermore, the characteristics of soft matter are exploited when combined with microfluidic platforms to mimic in-vivo microenviroments like extracellular matrix to directly test the influence of mechanical cues such as softness and elasticity. In addition, microfluidics platforms enable us to measure the mechanical properties of cells by establishing defined flow or confined microstructures through viscoelastic particles/cells focusing and droplet microfluidics. Finally, the 3D bio-printing of soft matter via microdevices has become widely employed.

In this Special Issue, we highlight recent progress in microfluidics with research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on novel methodological developments and applications of microfluidics devices for soft matter and mechanobiology, as well as emerging intriguing phenomena of soft matter in microfluidics.

Dr. Sung Sik Lee
Dr. Jae Bem You
Guest Editors

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 2600 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

  • Soft Matter
  • Viscoelastic Microfluidics
  • Droplet Microfluidics
  • Hydrogel
  • Rheology
  • Microrheology
  • Bio-printing
  • Mechanobiology
  • Deformability
  • Mechano-transduction
  • 3D Printing

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 5018 KiB  
Article
High-Efficiency Single-Cell Containment Microdevices Based on Fluid Control
by Daiki Tanaka, Junichi Ishihara, Hiroki Takahashi, Masashi Kobayashi, Aya Miyazaki, Satsuki Kajiya, Risa Fujita, Naoki Maekawa, Yuriko Yamazaki, Akiko Takaya, Yuumi Nakamura, Masahiro Furuya, Tetsushi Sekiguchi and Shuichi Shoji
Micromachines 2023, 14(5), 1027; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14051027 - 11 May 2023
Viewed by 1618
Abstract
In this study, we developed a comb-shaped microfluidic device that can efficiently trap and culture a single cell (bacterium). Conventional culture devices have difficulty in trapping a single bacterium and often use a centrifuge to push the bacterium into the channel. The device [...] Read more.
In this study, we developed a comb-shaped microfluidic device that can efficiently trap and culture a single cell (bacterium). Conventional culture devices have difficulty in trapping a single bacterium and often use a centrifuge to push the bacterium into the channel. The device developed in this study can store bacteria in almost all growth channels using the flowing fluid. In addition, chemical replacement can be performed in a few seconds, making this device suitable for culture experiments with resistant bacteria. The storage efficiency of microbeads that mimic bacteria was significantly improved from 0.2% to 84%. We used simulations to investigate the pressure loss in the growth channel. The pressure in the growth channel of the conventional device was more than 1400 PaG, whereas that of the new device was less than 400 PaG. Our microfluidic device was easily fabricated by a soft microelectromechanical systems method. The device was highly versatile and can be applied to various bacteria, such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microfluidics for Soft Matter and Mechanobiology, Volume II)
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10 pages, 2490 KiB  
Communication
Glycerol Droplet Spreading on Growing Bacillus Subtilis Biofilms
by Siyang Luo, Yanan Liu, Hao Luo and Guangyin Jing
Micromachines 2023, 14(3), 599; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14030599 - 04 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1115
Abstract
Bacterial biofilm is a three-dimensional matrix composed of a large number of living bacterial individuals. The strong bio-interaction between the bacteria and its self-secreted matrix environment strengthens the mechanical integrity of the biofilm and the sustainable resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. As a [...] Read more.
Bacterial biofilm is a three-dimensional matrix composed of a large number of living bacterial individuals. The strong bio-interaction between the bacteria and its self-secreted matrix environment strengthens the mechanical integrity of the biofilm and the sustainable resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. As a soft surface, the biofilm is expected to present different dynamical wetting behavior in response to shear stress, which is, however, less known. Here, the spreading of liquid droplet on Bacillus subtilis biofilm at its different growing phases was experimentally investigated. Due to the viscoelastic response of the biofilm to fast spreading of the droplet, three stages were identified as inertial, viscous stages, and a longer transition in between. The physical heterogeneity of growing biofilm correlates with the spreading scaling within the inertial stage, followed by the possible chemical variation after a critical growing time. By using the duration of inertial spreading, the characteristic time scale was successfully linked to the shear modulus of the elastic dissipation of the biofilm. This measurement suggests a facile, non-destructive and in vivo method to understand the mechanical instability of this living matter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microfluidics for Soft Matter and Mechanobiology, Volume II)
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13 pages, 1075 KiB  
Article
Viscoelastic Particle Encapsulation Using a Hyaluronic Acid Solution in a T-Junction Microfluidic Device
by Anoshanth Jeyasountharan and Francesco Del Giudice
Micromachines 2023, 14(3), 563; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14030563 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1764
Abstract
The encapsulation of particles and cells in droplets is highly relevant in biomedical engineering as well as in material science. So far, however, the majority of the studies in this area have focused on the encapsulation of particles or cells suspended in Newtonian [...] Read more.
The encapsulation of particles and cells in droplets is highly relevant in biomedical engineering as well as in material science. So far, however, the majority of the studies in this area have focused on the encapsulation of particles or cells suspended in Newtonian liquids. We here studied the particle encapsulation phenomenon in a T-junction microfluidic device, using a non-Newtonian viscoelastic hyaluronic acid solution in phosphate buffer saline as suspending liquid for the particles. We first studied the non-Newtonian droplet formation mechanism, finding that the data for the normalised droplet length scaled as the Newtonian ones. We then performed viscoelastic encapsulation experiments, where we exploited the fact that particles self-assembled in equally-spaced structures before approaching the encapsulation area, to then identify some experimental conditions for which the single encapsulation efficiency was larger than the stochastic limit predicted by the Poisson statistics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microfluidics for Soft Matter and Mechanobiology, Volume II)
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Review

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17 pages, 5904 KiB  
Review
Electric and Magnetic Field-Driven Dynamic Structuring for Smart Functional Devices
by Koohee Han
Micromachines 2023, 14(3), 661; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14030661 - 16 Mar 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2080
Abstract
The field of soft matter is rapidly growing and pushing the limits of conventional materials science and engineering. Soft matter refers to materials that are easily deformed by thermal fluctuations and external forces, allowing for better adaptation and interaction with the environment. This [...] Read more.
The field of soft matter is rapidly growing and pushing the limits of conventional materials science and engineering. Soft matter refers to materials that are easily deformed by thermal fluctuations and external forces, allowing for better adaptation and interaction with the environment. This has opened up opportunities for applications such as stretchable electronics, soft robotics, and microfluidics. In particular, soft matter plays a crucial role in microfluidics, where viscous forces at the microscale pose a challenge to controlling dynamic material behavior and operating functional devices. Field-driven active colloidal systems are a promising model system for building smart functional devices, where dispersed colloidal particles can be activated and controlled by external fields such as magnetic and electric fields. This review focuses on building smart functional devices from field-driven collective patterns, specifically the dynamic structuring of hierarchically ordered structures. These structures self-organize from colloidal building blocks and exhibit reconfigurable collective patterns that can implement smart functions such as shape shifting and self-healing. The review clarifies the basic mechanisms of field-driven particle dynamic behaviors and how particle–particle interactions determine the collective patterns of dynamic structures. Finally, the review concludes by highlighting representative application areas and future directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microfluidics for Soft Matter and Mechanobiology, Volume II)
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