ABOUT
Since the first publication of a microanalytical device in 1979, a booming international activity is seen in the field of microfluidics for applications in health, food safety, water and environmental analysis. Microfluidics and its expansion to Lab- and more recently to Organ-on-a-Chip is maturing as a field and is showing a significant market growth.
Our group, with a gradually growing activity since 2005, supported by several national and European competitive projects, has been very active in the field. Our work was initiated from digital microfluidics, while later on it focused on the development of a variety of microfluidic devices (for DNA amplification, bacteria capture, DNA purification, reagent mixing, etc.) and more recently for size-based separation of sample components, as components of innovative lab-on-chips for molecular diagnostics in food safety and health applications. Furthermore, we proceeded to the development of organ-on-a-chip platforms for constituting in vivo cellular environments and their integration with immunobiosensors for in-real time monitoring of the cellular environment. The experimental work is being continuously complemented with indispensable computational studies, supervised by Prof. George Kokkoris (NTUA), to understand and accommodate the design of improved devices prior to their fabrication. The research activities of the team are carried out in collaboration with other research groups in “Demokritos”, the Plasma group of INN and the Immunosensors and Molecular Immunology groups of INRASTES.
Microfluidics & LoC developed by the group
The novelty in our work is based but not limited to the incorporation in microfluidics of nanotextured and plasma-functionalized surfaces as well as the exploitation of printed circuit boards (PCBs) as building platforms for industrially produced, low-cost microfluidics for biochemical analysis. This has been demonstrated by the filing of five (5) national and European patents in the field of microfluidics/LoC. One of our innovations, i.e. the manufacturing of microfluidics on a printed circuit board, has been recognized by the European Commission's Innovation Radar and has been considered as “business ready”. Furthermore, our innovation on the incorporation of plasma nanotextured and functionalized surfaces in microfluidics is the main technology exploited in a NCSR “Demokritos” spin-off company, Nanoplasmas PC.
