Colloquium

Microfluidic devices for quantitative cell biology

Prof. Alex Groisman
University of California, San Diego

Wednesday, February 6, 2008   4:00 p.m.  NSH 118

(Refreshments at 3:30 p.m. NSH 202)

 

Microfluidics, development and application of customized microchannel networks, has been a quickly growing area of applied science and technology in the recent decade. Microscopic flows are generally laminar and stable, allowing precise control of flow velocities, hydrodynamic stresses, and concentration fields of various substances. Microfabrication also enables building compartments of well-defined shapes and sizes. We will present three experimental projects showing how these features of microfluidics have been used to perform new types of quantitative biological experiments with live cells. In these collaborative projects between physicists and biologists, we have studied luminescence of dinoflagellates (unicellular marine organisms) in response to a mechanical stimulus, directional migration (chemotaxis) of white blood cells in response to gradients of a chemical stimulus, and self-organization of bacterial colonies grown to high densities in microchambers.