Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary technology handling pico- and nanoliter samples. Microfluidics strongly reduces sample consumption while performing an exquisite control of the system fluid dynamics. It allows precise mixing of liquids, triggering the onset of reactions with sub-millisecond precision. Such technology is, in principle, the perfect candidate for sample delivery systems at high-intensity x-ray sources, like synchrotrons and x-ray free-electron lasers. Coupling the microfluidics with x-ray gives access to sub-millisecond kinetics studies of reactions started by mixing. Moreover, the application of microfluidics can refurbish the sample within x-ray exposures, avoiding radiation damage issues. Those affect especially the "image before destruction" experiments at free-electron lasers and have detrimental effects on sample quality also at synchrotron experiments.
Despite the advantages that this technology provides, microfluidics is far from being routinely used at the big x-ray facilities at this current time. Such a step would require a versatile integration of microfluidics in the beamline set-up, which is currently not foreseen in most instruments. In order to perform a successful x-ray experiment with microfluidics, it is necessary to plan well in advance, by choosing compatible materials of fabrication, compatible connectors, respecting the vacuum constraints (when needed), and using a consistent control of the liquid system. Some of these details depend strictly on the beamline of choice and need to be reset for experiments at new beamlines.
This Research Topic focuses on the latest developments of microfluidics with the aim of performing x-ray experiments at synchrotrons and free-electron lasers. It will assemble Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspectives. Areas of interest will include, among others, the following:
• The application of microfluidics devices on structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics x-ray experiments.
• Optimization of microfluidic devices fabricated with novel methods or with new materials for making them compatible with x-ray experiments at big facilities
• Set-ups for microfluidic devices at x-ray instruments
• Improvements of employed connectors
• Strategies to minimize sample consumption
• Approaches to reduce clogging events
• Advancements in increasing mixing efficiency and reducing mixing time
• Developments of stroboscopic operation mode, employing, for example, drop-on-demand technology, and synchronization with data acquisition
Dr. Osman Bilsel holds a company interested in developing Microfluidic Devices and is a contractor for various pharmaceutical companies. All other editors declare no conflict of interest
Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary technology handling pico- and nanoliter samples. Microfluidics strongly reduces sample consumption while performing an exquisite control of the system fluid dynamics. It allows precise mixing of liquids, triggering the onset of reactions with sub-millisecond precision. Such technology is, in principle, the perfect candidate for sample delivery systems at high-intensity x-ray sources, like synchrotrons and x-ray free-electron lasers. Coupling the microfluidics with x-ray gives access to sub-millisecond kinetics studies of reactions started by mixing. Moreover, the application of microfluidics can refurbish the sample within x-ray exposures, avoiding radiation damage issues. Those affect especially the "image before destruction" experiments at free-electron lasers and have detrimental effects on sample quality also at synchrotron experiments.
Despite the advantages that this technology provides, microfluidics is far from being routinely used at the big x-ray facilities at this current time. Such a step would require a versatile integration of microfluidics in the beamline set-up, which is currently not foreseen in most instruments. In order to perform a successful x-ray experiment with microfluidics, it is necessary to plan well in advance, by choosing compatible materials of fabrication, compatible connectors, respecting the vacuum constraints (when needed), and using a consistent control of the liquid system. Some of these details depend strictly on the beamline of choice and need to be reset for experiments at new beamlines.
This Research Topic focuses on the latest developments of microfluidics with the aim of performing x-ray experiments at synchrotrons and free-electron lasers. It will assemble Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspectives. Areas of interest will include, among others, the following:
• The application of microfluidics devices on structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics x-ray experiments.
• Optimization of microfluidic devices fabricated with novel methods or with new materials for making them compatible with x-ray experiments at big facilities
• Set-ups for microfluidic devices at x-ray instruments
• Improvements of employed connectors
• Strategies to minimize sample consumption
• Approaches to reduce clogging events
• Advancements in increasing mixing efficiency and reducing mixing time
• Developments of stroboscopic operation mode, employing, for example, drop-on-demand technology, and synchronization with data acquisition
Dr. Osman Bilsel holds a company interested in developing Microfluidic Devices and is a contractor for various pharmaceutical companies. All other editors declare no conflict of interest