Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2013 Feb 27;3(1):126-54. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics3010126.
During the last two decades, the manufacturing techniques of microfluidics-based devices have been phenomenally advanced, offering unlimited potential for bio-medical technologies. However, the direct applications of these technologies toward diagnostics and therapeutics are still far from maturity. The present challenges lay at the interfaces between the engineering systems and the biocomplex systems. A precisely designed engineering system with narrow dynamic range is hard to seamlessly integrate with the adaptive biological system in order to achieve the design goals. These differences remain as the roadblock between two fundamentally non-compatible systems. This paper will not extensively review the existing microfluidic sensors and actuators; rather, we will discuss the sources of the gaps for integration. We will also introduce system interface technologies for bridging the differences to lead toward paradigm shifts in diagnostics and therapeutics.
在过去的二十年中，基于微流控的器件制造技术得到了突飞猛进的发展，为生物医学技术带来了无限的潜力。然而，这些技术在诊断和治疗方面的直接应用仍远未成熟。目前的挑战在于工程系统和生物复杂系统之间的接口。一个设计精密、动态范围狭窄的工程系统很难与自适应的生物系统无缝集成，以实现设计目标。这些差异成为两个根本不兼容的系统之间的障碍。本文不会广泛回顾现有的微流控传感器和执行器；相反，我们将讨论集成的差距来源。我们还将介绍系统接口技术，以弥合差异，引领诊断和治疗领域的范式转变。
