TABLE OF CONTENTS At the end of this book, let us recall the different steps that we have made toward the comprehension and prediction of the mechanical behavior of micro- and nanoparticles and macromolecules.
Because these particles are immerged in a buffer liquid, we have focused first on carrier fluid behavior, by studying microfluidic flows in microsystems. Microfluidics may be considered a new science by itself. On many points it departs from the classic view of macroscopic fluid dynamics. We have presented and analyzed the different forms of microflows that can be found in microsystems for biology, from continuous microflows (when a single phase liquid flows continuously in microchannels), to plug flows (when plugs of immiscible liquids successively move in the microchannels), and to digital microfluidics (when separated microdrops are displaced step by step on a solid surface).
Second, starting from the observation that the biological molecules or the microparticles we want to track and guide do not have exactly the same behavior as the buffer fluid molecules due to their size and weight, we have focused on molecular diffusion and transport aspects. Because our approach aims for in vitro problems, as well as in vivo situations, we have given attention to the behavior of particles in confined volumes.
Next, as the main purpose of biochips is the study of biological targets like DNA, proteins, and cells, the principle of key-lock recognition has been presented; this principle is the basis of in vitro biochips as well as that for the in vivo...
