Event
Bioengineering Seminar Series: Javier Atencia
Friday, October 29, 2010
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Room 2108, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Bldg.
Professor Ian White
ianwhite@umd.edu
Microfluidic Tools for the Generation of Controlled Flow-Free Cellular Microenvironments
Javier Atencia
NIST
Recent advances in microfluidics, the science that deals with tiny amount of liquids, are allowing for unprecedented control over the cellular microenvironment. Measuring the cellular response to engineered temporal and spatial distribution of chemical cues is critical for understanding multiple physiologically relevant processes such as cancer metastasis, neutrophil migration and wound healing, and biofilm formation.
In this seminar I will discuss the physics that govern the interface between liquids at the microscale and how microfluidic technology can be used to harness them. In particular I will present two microfluidic technologies recently developed at NIST, which can be used to probe cells using chemical gradients generated by diffusion. Experiments performed with bacteria and mammalian cells will illustrate potential of these microfluidic tools and finally I will discuss opportunities for progress.
