Droplet microfluidics: biology one picoliter at a time

Synopsis

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Synopsis

This talk will describe the use of microfluidic technology to control and manipulate drops whose volume is about one picoliter.  These can serve as reaction vessels for performing biology experiments.  These drops can be manipulated with very high precision using an inert carrier oil to control the fluidic.  Small quantities of other reagents can be injected with a high degree of control.  The drops can also encapsulate cells, enabling cell-based experiments to be carried out.  Because the drops are so small, millions of experiments can be performed using very small amounts of reagents.  This facilitates a wide range of biology studies, from single-cell sequencing to studies of evolution of new enzymes and even fast, sensitive testing of viral load.  Several of these will be described.

Speaker Bio: https://weitzlab.seas.harvard.edu/group