Event
NG Microsystems Seminar: Javier Atencia-Fernandez, "Microfluidic technology & chemical gradients"
Thursday, December 14, 2017
4:00 p.m.
1146 AV Williams Building
Ian White
ianwhite@umd.edu
Microfluidic technology and chemical gradients: patterning the cellular microenvironment
Javier Atencia-Fernandez
Research Assistant Professor
Fischell Department of Bioengineering
University of Maryland
Abstract
Nowadays MEMs technology allows patterning the geometrical space around living cells with unprecedented resolution and accuracy. Far more subtle but equally important is patterning the soluble chemical environment around cells as a way to probe and understand their response to the dynamic environment where they live, adapt and thrive. Individual cells don’t use sound or vision to understand their world; they measure chemical concentrations of different biomolecules, nutrients and toxins to make decisions. Here I will present our work on developing microfluidic technology to pattern the chemical environment of cells by engineering the flux of molecular diffusion. As an illustration I will discuss our work on food-safety testing and the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
