Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A lab-on-a-chip is a class of device that integrates and automates multiple laboratory techniques into a system that fits on a chip up to a maximum of a few square centimetres in size. By manipulating reagents on the microscale effects such as rapid heating and mixing can be exploited. It also allows waste and exposure to dangerous chemicals to be minimized.
Lab-grown ‘mini-colons’ enable the simulation of colorectal tumor dynamics and the high-resolution study of interactions with cells from the tumor’s native microenvironment. These next-generation organoids offer a wealth of new experimental opportunities, propelling the frontiers of cancer modeling in multiple directions.
The immobilization of one reactant on a solid support makes interfacing of reagents a critical challenge in solid-phase synthesis. Here, authors combine dielectrophoresis and droplet microfluidics to encapsulate and eject individual beads out of reagent droplets for improved reaction fidelity.
A human-cell-based pancreas-liver microphysiological system serves as a preclinical platform for studying glucose–insulin homeostasis and disease mechanisms of glucose dysregulation, offering a tool for identifying targets and testing drugs.
Archived patient-derived tissue specimens play a central role in understanding disease and developing therapies. Here authors present DropBlot, a microfluidic platform that integrates droplet-based antigen retrieval with single-cell immunoblotting, enabling efficient protein retrieval and proteoform separation from fixed human specimens.
Lab-grown ‘mini-colons’ enable the simulation of colorectal tumor dynamics and the high-resolution study of interactions with cells from the tumor’s native microenvironment. These next-generation organoids offer a wealth of new experimental opportunities, propelling the frontiers of cancer modeling in multiple directions.
Pharmaceutical companies continue to advocate for the use of in vitro models towards the reduction of animal use in drug discovery and development while acknowledging that further advancements are needed to heighten the models’ current state of readiness.
The physical phenotypes of malignant cells in tissue biopsies can be rapidly characterized at high throughput via deformability cytometry after singularizing the cells into a suspension by using a tissue grinder.
We developed a 3D human neuroimmune axis model to study the interplay of brain innate immune cells and peripheral adaptive immune cells in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease pathology induced a marked increase in CD8+ T cell infiltration, exacerbating neurodegeneration. The CXCL10–CXCR3 pathway has a key role in mediating this process.
Biomarkers in breath can be related to certain diseases, which makes breath-based analysis a powerful diagnostic tool. Here we highlight milestones and remaining challenges for the broad clinical implementation of wearables for breath analysis.