Category Archives: Uncategorized

Microfluidics can control how stem cells communicate

Exciting to see the work of Dr. Katarina Blagovic from the Voldman group at MIT published in PLoS ONE last month: “Microfluidic Perfusion for Regulating Diffusible Signaling in Stem Cells.” Katarina continued and extended the work begun during my Ph.D. (I’m a co-author), and it’s wonderful to see the ideas we discussed become reality! In diffusible [...]

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NIH / DARPA solicit proposals for human-on-chip platforms to accelerate drug development

Fantastic to hear about a new, substantial U.S. government funding effort in microfluidics research! Last month a joint effort between the NIH, DARPA, and the FDA was announced to develop human-on-chip platforms to test drug candidates more efficiently and accurately. The NIH and DARPA are soliciting proposals separately from all types of research organizations (academic, industry, government, other) [...]

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Biomedspeak

In foreign language learning, there’s a concept called false friends — words that seem so familiar you’re tricked into thinking you know what they mean. But in reality they mean something different. For example, in German and Scandinavian languages the word “gift” doesn’t mean a present. It actually means poison. While not as dramatic, there [...]

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Recent job posts — Finland and India!

Know someone looking for a job?  New job post today from BioMediTech in Finland, looking for a Post Doctoral Fellow for the development of microfluidic systems for stem cell studies.  Note the application deadline is Nov 15, 2011.  Also recently — Achira Labs in Bangalore, India is looking for a Group Lead for Assay Development. Check [...]

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MICROmanufacturing Magazine interviews Don Ingber of the Wyss Institute

Just came across this MICROmanufacturing Magazine interview with Wyss Institute Founding Director, Don Ingber, about their microfluidic organ-on-a-chip work led by Ingber and Dan Dongeun Huh. Interesting to see the interview delve into a manufacturing question, highlighting the translational nature of the Wyss: MICRO: How are these devices being manufactured? Ingber: Manufacturing has been done [...]

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On-Q-ity CSO Walt Carney talks about CTCs in Drug Discovery Today

Thanks to Bruce Booth for mentioning this article in Drug Discovery Today by Walt Carney, Chief Scientific Officer and Interim President of On-Q-ity.  We’ve covered On-Q-ity before, so it’s great to hear more of their story unfold.  My thoughts on the article: 1. Limited uptake of Veridex CellSearch due to low sensitivity could be an [...]

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Startup spotlight: Pharyx

Pharyx is a recent microbioreactor startup spun out of Rajeev Ram’s group at MIT and founded by Harry Lee and Paolo Boccazzi. They’ve been around for a few years and won a Phase I SBIR grant in 2008 ($200,000) and Phase II award in 2009 ($750,000) to develop microbioreactors for biofuels. Bioreactors are essentially tanks [...]

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If you can make it there: Microfluidics in New York

Since I’m located in Boston, it’s easy to get surrounded by Massachusetts-based efforts to promote innovation. But it’s also great to see similar efforts in others locations.  For example, I ran across this 2009 report on microfluidics research in New York State published by the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR).  [...]

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Diagnostics For All featured in the New York Times

Diagnostics For All and their paper microfluidic liver tests were featured yesterday in the New York Times as part of its “Small Fixes” series. The series focuses on low-cost innovations for the developing world.  A few themes: Evolution from academic to commercial design: “Originally, Dr. Whitesides used a plastic that hardened in ultraviolet light, but [...]

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Microfluidics: a stealth technology?

Recently I’ve been wondering if microfluidics is a “stealth” technology that will be adopted quietly, with most people never realizing that a device they use has a microfluidic component, and without recognizing terms like “microfluidic,” “lab on a chip,” or “bioMEMS.” By comparison, some other technologies have been talked about more: I threw in cloud [...]

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