Submission deadline:1/15/2013
Scope and purposes

Microfluidic technologies have advanced the design and development of point-of-care assays through low consumption of sample and reagent, fast reaction/detection, low cost, high portability and disposability. Versatile microfluidic platforms have been initiated for creative and efficient solutions for medical testing, diagnostics and disease treatment. It has proven to be a breakthrough analytical tool that has rendered analysis of proteins a biomedical routine. The high parallelization and integration facilitate identification of biomembrane proteins as new biomarkers for applications in biosensors. The sensitivity limits of assays have been significantly enhanced using new labeling techniques, label-free detection methods, and on-chip circuit boards for signal transduction and acquisition. Additionally, microfluidics initiated new cell culture methods and realistic microenvironment that enable simultaneous stimuli and intercellular communication, response to infection, evolution of disease, and response to medications.

The aim of this special issue is to foster state-of-the-art research in the area of microfluidic technologies for biomedical applications. This special issue focuses on the interface between microfluidics, biomechanics, molecular and cellular biology with applications for diagnostics, treatment, and medicine applications.
Topics of primary interest include, but are limited to:

Point-of-care diagnostics
Immunoassays
Lab-on-a-chip systems
On-chip sample preparation
Cell separation/sorting for diagnostics
Biosensors and bioreactors
Biophysical regulation
Signal transduction and acquisition
Drug delivery
Drug discovery

Abstracts addressing one or more of these themes/topics or further questions should be emailed to an editor by (1/15/2013) Manuscript submissions are invited by the submission deadline. All papers will undergo a double or triple-blind peer review process.

Guest Editors
Dr. E Du, sarahedu@mit.edu
Manuscript submission deadline 1/15/2013