Core Functions

For the past 40 years, continuous progress of microscale fabrication techniques has revolutionized the electronics industry. The same microscale technologies, now entering the field of biomedical sciences, are poised to bring the same revolutions to the 21st century biomedical sciences.

A broad range of applications are targeted, ranging from point-of-care diagnostic devices to implantable micro-sensors, from tissue-engineered products to cell-based drug screening tools, and from gene chips to novel molecular biology tools.

In this dynamic context, the Microfluidics Core provides know-how and state-of-the-art facilities for investigators in nervous system development, function, and dysfunction, to measure, control, and perturb the cellular microenvironment at the scale comparable to cell size.

Three key areas of expertise are supported by this core:

  1. Microfluidic devices for cell motility studies
  2. Microfluidic devices for whole-cell and cell-organelle separation
  3. Microfluidic devices for axon guidance and high precision imaging studies

The core will provide assistance to investigators with the design, fabrication and implementation of microfluidic tools for specific applications, and delve into entirely new, unexplored areas of applications.