Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Europe 2022 Agenda

Conference Registration, Materials Pick-Up, Morning Coffee and Tea

Mid-Morning Coffee Break and Networking in the Exhibit Hall

Where Photonics Meet Microfluidics – Challenges and Opportunities For Consumables For Life Sciences and Diagnostics Applications in Glass
Tobias Bauert, Business Development Manager, IMT Microtechnologies

Fluid manipulation on the micro-scale allows new applications in various fields including life sciences and diagnostics. Many of these applications incorporate bio-sensors in a microfluidic setup. The choice of transduction mechanism for these bio-sensors creates the boundary conditions not only for the bio-chip itself but for the surface and bulk materials as well as the manufacturing technologies. Glass sometimes is the only choice due to limiting optical specifications or very harsh operating conditions. By harvesting the power of CMOS manufacturing technologies with non-CMOS compatible materials on glass, cost effective consumables for life sciences become reality in all volumes from prototyping to large scale manufacturing.

Emulseo: Formulation Solutions For Microfluidic Applications
Ariane Peyret, Technical Support and Marketing Manager, Emulseo

Water-in-oil emulsion droplets produced with microfluidic devices have become widely used as powerful tools for biological and chemical applications including screening, material synthesis, single-cell analysis, digital polymerase chain reaction assays (dPCR) or in vitro diagnostics. Droplet microfluidics enable chemical and biological experiments to be performed at high-throughput in a confined and controlled environment with enhanced efficiency and using minimal amount of starting material. These applications all require reliable formulation tools that meet essential quality criteria. Especially, surfactants are key to generating stable emulsions. Being able to fully control their synthesis in a reproducible way and at large scales is crucial. For these reasons, Emulseo has worked on developing custom-made solutions and ready-to-use formulations such as fluorinated surfactants, fluorinated oils, surface treatments and other specialty chemicals.

Moving Diagnosis Closer to the Patient: Smart Consumables For Novel Point-of-Care Solutions
Iris Prinz, Head of Sales and Business Development, STRATEC Consumables GmbH

Within the presentation we will focus on a Point-of-Care solution realized at STRATEC Consumables jointly with Femtonics. This Point-of-Care cartridge includes several challenges e.g. manufacturing of fluidics including opening mechanism for blisters by injection molding, content loading like dispensing and lyophilization as well as several assembly steps in order to realize a diagnostic platform with the aim to detect respiratory diseases.

Networking Lunch in the Exhibit Hall with Exhibitors and Conference Sponsors + Poster Viewing

Microfluidics Applications in the Life Sciences Sector
Mark Olde Riekerink, Senior Business Development Manager, Micronit Microtechnologies BV

Microfluidics is the science of manipulating small volumes of liquids. This field is rapidly evolving and can have an enormous impact on the progress in science and healthcare. This usually is executed on microchips made with manufacturing techniques also used in the semiconductor industry, like lithography, etching and thin film deposition. The chips contain small channels, which enable accurate control of liquids and chemical reactions. The use of small volumes allows quicker temperature shifts and faster liquid displacement. Moreover, microfluidics enables the automation and integration of complex operations on-chip, with reduced sample and expensive reagent volumes. With such properties, microfluidics can fit applications in the healthcare sector along with other microtechnologies. The approach starts from a conceptual design to prototyping to a final design and process transfer for volume manufacturing. A flexible approach allows the choice of a variety of materials and hybrid material combinations and customized designs e.g. for successful integration of multiple functions. This approach is of particular interest for developing relative complex designs with multiple micro- and nanostructures and functionalities on board. The collaboration of life sciences and microfluidics companies can help in developing technologies that can also reduce development costs, speed up time-to-market and increase success rates for cost-effective commercialization. During this talk, examples of industrial solutions and recent technology developments will be presented, with special focus on the life sciences sector.

Microfluidics for Low-Throughput Assay Automation
Richard Chasen Spero, CEO, Redbud Labs

Lab automation reduces errors, improves consistency, and reduces costs. But while lab automation equipment is typically optimized for processing hundreds or thousands of samples per day, most labs work with much lower throughput—say, 10–100 samples per day, and therefore their workflows are almost always performed by hand. Redbud Labs has developed an automation platform optimized for low- to medium-throughput. We use a novel microfluidic agitation method to maximize reaction yield for sample prep and other assays, resulting in lab-quality yield, fast runtimes, and a compact design. We will report on performance of this system in a range of assays, from nucleic acid extraction to protein enrichment for immunoassays. We will also share strategies employed to develop our platform on a highly compressed timeline.

Mid-Afternoon Coffee and Tea Break and Networking in the Exhibit Hall

Upscaling of Microfluidic Biosensors Manufacturing by Imprinting, Printing and Lamination Processes on Polymer Foils
Anja Haase, Senior Scientist, JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH

High throughput fabrication based on roll-to-roll UV imprint lithography of lab-on foil chips for protein or DNA detection is presented. Subsequent fabrication process steps, such as biomolecule spotting and chip lamination are also roll-to-roll based.

Novel Origami Foil Based Microfluidic Foils for DNA Amplification and Multiplex Detection Fabricated by R2R UV NIL
Anne Linhardt, Scientist, JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH

We present the implementation of DNA amplification by LAMP as well as multiplex DNA detection using the same polymer foil based microfluidic chip. This is accomplished through our unique pilot line for high throughput production of microfluidic systems based on Roll-to-Roll (R2R) processes.

Microfluidic Chip For In Vitro Neuronal Cell Culture Under Electrical Stimulation
Ana Ayerdi , Senior Researcher, Tecnalia Research & Innovation

A chip with a fluidic design that allows neuronal cell culture and axon growth monitoring was developed. This design consists of two separated chambers in which cells are seeded and allows the monitoring of axons outgrowth through the microchannels. Using industrial compatible processes, we have fabricated polymer shims and working stamps to manufacture such patterned surfaces both in a small scale plate to plate fashion as well as continuous high throughput roll-to-roll fabrication. The material choice allows for fluorescence microscopy imaging. The design was screened in vitro with different neuronal like cell lines and using several substrates that can be used for high throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing. The design is also compatible with a custom-made electrical stimulus generator. Neuronal cells respond to electrical stimulation in two ways: by increasing their cell size and by increasing the cell number in culture. With this approach chips that can be manufactured in a faster and roll to roll fabrication method for in vitro drug screening assays will be shown.

Colorimetric LOC Compatible with R2R Fabrication For Monitoring the Activity of Enzyme Extracts
Veronica Mora Sanz , Researcher, Tecnalia Research and Innovation

Using a colorimetric Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) device, the activity of different organic enzyme formulations produced by an efficient fermentation technology are measured. Similar enzyme sensing strategies were chosen to take advantage of synergies in chip design. The methodology consists in a one-step reaction that uses specific substrates to produce a colored end-product. The microfluidic chip design compatible with roll-to-roll (R2R) extrusion coating fabrication consists on an inlet for the enzyme sample, a reaction chamber, and a capillary pump. The enzyme substrates were immobilized on the reaction chamber for simplify the handle for final user. Spotting was employed for the integration of the reagents on the chip because it is a compatible technique with R2R process. COC was chosen for the chip fabrication for its flexibility required in R2R manufacturing and its transparency necessary for colorimetric detection. An adhesive foil is used to cover the structured microfluidic foil. A portable readout device with UV-LED and photodiodes was developed for measuring the enzymatic activity in situ in the manufacturing plant.

Precise Contactless Spotting for Lab-on-Chip Applications
Florian Filbrandt, Application Sales, microdrop Technologies GmbH

Networking Reception with Beer and Wine: Network with Colleagues and Engage with Exhibitors and Conference Sponsors. French Wine Tasting Sponsored by Kloé
Paul Coudray, CEO, Kloé SAS

Close of Programming on Day 1 of the Conference