title: Microfluidic solutions enabling continuous processing and monitoring of biological samples: A review.
abstract: The last decade has witnessed tremendous advances in employing microfluidic solutions enabling Continuous Processing and Monitoring of Biological Samples (CPMBS), which is an essential requirement for the control of bio-processes. The microfluidic systems are superior to the traditional inline sensors due to their ability to implement complex analytical procedures, such as multi-step sample preparation, and enabling the online measurement of parameters. This manuscript provides a backgound review of microfluidic approaches employing laminar flow, hydrodynamic separation, acoustophoresis, electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, magnetophoresis and segmented flow for the continuous processing and monitoring of biological samples. The principles, advantages and limitations of each microfluidic approach are described along with its potential applications. The challenges in the field and the future directions are also provided.
authors.affiliation: Hahn-Schickard, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address: Marc.Karle@Hahn-Schickard.de.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karle
authors.affiliation: Hahn-Schickard, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany; Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandeep Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Vashist
authors.affiliation: Hahn-Schickard, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany; Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zengerle
authors.affiliation: Hahn-Schickard, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany; Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: von Stetten
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Analytical procedures; Continuous processing; Microfluidic; Monitoring; Sample preparation