7^th Euro Biosensors & Bioelectronics Congress

Biography

Biography: Andreas Dietzel

Abstract

In a world that becomes increasingly concerned about affordable health care, fast and effective screening methods for drugs in different formulations are required in the course of their development. In addition, the trend towards personalized medicine demands production of drugs in very small volumes. For both, the microfluidic approach is ideally suited. With miniaturized systems that can be realized by micro- or nanofabrication processes, new tools for pharmaceutical research and development become available. As new and better technologies for pre-clinical screening of drug dosage formulations microfluidic cell culture models that can mimic in-vivo conditions have attracted much attention. Recently developed organ-on-chip platforms providing dynamic flow conditions like cornea-on-chip and pancreas-on-chip will be presented including aspects of their microfluidic design, their fabrication and application. These systems are equipped with integrated sensors but also allow microscopic access at low background auto fluorescence. Furthermore recent work on the production of nanoparticles formulations within microfluidic droplet flows and plug flows will be discussed. In thereby obtained smallest fluid volumes mixing is accelerated and very controlled precipitation occurs. This leads to nanoparticle formulations in which particle sizes can be tuned by external flow controls. These approaches offer new possibilities for production at smallest scales and for improving the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs.