Microfluidic NMR as tool to study biological systems

Microfluidic NMR As Tool To Study Biological Systems

 

Marcel Utz

Institute of Microstructure Technology, KIT, Germany

School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, UK

 

 

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an extremely versatile tool to study the structure and dynamics of matter in general and living matter in particular. In recent years, microfluidic lab-on-a-chip (LOC)  devices have increasingly found applications in biomedical research as platforms for disease modelling and drug testing, as well as in medical diagnostics. Combining the analytical power of NMR with such miniaturised and highly integrated devices is challenging, but can give rich rewards. For example, NMR can analyse complex mixtures in operando without the need for chromatographic separation.  Recent advances in the design of miniaturised NMR detectors along with microfluidic devices have made it possible to obtain detailed metabolomic information from microfluidic cultures of cells, cell aggregates, and tissue slices which is complementary to destructive end-point readouts. The integration of lab-on-a-chip platforms with NMR poses a number of interesting scientific and technical challenges. In this talk, I will summarise recent developments in this field and discuss remaining problems and possible ways to address them.