 n
the interview below, we talk with Dr. Todd Thorsen about his
paper, "Dynamic pattern formation in a vesicle-generating
microfluidic device," (Phys.
Rev. Lett. 86[18]: 4163-6, 30 April 2001), which is part
of our Research Front on Microfluidic Devices. This paper
had 166 cites at the time of our analysis; currently in the
Web
of Science®, it has 178 cites. According to our
Special Topics analysis of this field, Dr. Thorsen’s work
ranks at #16, with 11 papers cited a total of 990 times. In
Essential
Science IndicatorsSM,
Dr. Thorsen’s work can be found in the field of Chemistry.
Dr. Thorsen is the d'Arbellof Assistant Professor of
Mechanical Engineering at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
 Would
you please describe the significance of your paper and why it is highly
cited?
One of the most important contributions of the article to the
field of microfluidics certainly was that it introduced a robust,
inexpensive method to generate uniform microscale droplets. The
model for droplet formation in the devices—which illustrates that
the final droplet size is a competition between interfacial tension,
the tendency for a droplet to stay intact, and shear forces that
want to tear droplets apart—is simple, and comprehensible to a
broad, interdisciplinary audience.
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"Microfluidics is on its way to becoming a
mature field, particularly for 'lab-on-a-chip'-based devices
with medical diagnostic applications." |
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The popularity of the platform, accounting for the high citation
number of the paper, lies in its ability to be used by researchers
in a wide range of disciplines. With two pressure-driven inputs in
the referenced microfluidic device, it is easy for the end-user to
create droplets on demand, tuning the size of the final droplets by
changing fundamental parameters like the flow rate or viscosity of
the input solutions. The femto- to nanoliter scale droplets that can
be created in the two-phase microfluidic devices have been used as a
generic template for applications ranging from microparticle
synthesis and high-throughput biochemical screening to fundamental
physical studies like mixing and colloidal self-assembly.
How
did you become involved in this research, and were there any particular
successes or obstacles that stand out?
Surprisingly, the fundamental research was driven by a desire to
make small vesicles to study biochemical factors secreted by single
cells. The rich physics of the system, including the self-assembly
of the droplets into interesting patterns in the channels, caught us
by surprise and motivated us to write the manuscript. The final
architecture of the device reported in the paper, while simple and
elegant, eluded us for a fair amount of time. I made plenty of
devices that only produced large slugs of fluid before iteratively
refining the design to achieve droplet formation.
Where
do you see your research and the broader field leading in the future?
Microfluidics is on its way to becoming a mature field,
particularly for "lab-on-a-chip"-based devices with medical
diagnostic applications. In the last two decades, the need for
faster and cheaper technologies to extract biological information,
both at the molecular and cellular levels, has driven the trend to
miniaturize laboratory techniques. While many challenges exist for
the widespread adoption of microfluidic devices in hospitals and
clinics, including macro-to-micro sample interfacing and large-scale
manufacture, the future of microfluidics-based research is
particularly bright. In the past few years, there have been many
outstanding research reports on microfluidic devices capable of
carrying out processes like DNA sequencing or protein
crystallization that I feel will truly revolutionize health care and
biological research in general.
What
are the practical applications of your work, if any?
The microfluidic research in my group at MIT is driven by the
desire to create practical tools for the biomedical community. We
are interested in the design of low-cost, automated microfluidic
devices that can be used in the field or operating room for critical
care applications that do not interface with expensive, bulky
laboratory equipment. Consequently, we are currently developing
components like microfabricated pumps that fit inside microchannels
and run on a watch battery, and open-source software for the
microfluidics community that will enable the end-user to analyze
biological samples with the click of a button. These tools, among
others, form the foundation of several integrated microfluidic
projects currently underway in the laboratory, including platforms
for microfluidic artificial respiration, cell cytotoxicity analysis,
and biofilm formation.
Todd Thorsen, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA, USA
<• Return to
Research Front Map
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Dr. Todd Thorsen's
most-cited paper
with 166 cites to date (also represented in the Research
Front map): |
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Thorsen, T, et al., "Dynamic pattern
formation in a vesicle-generating microfluidic
device," PHYS REV LETT, 86 (18): 4163-4166,
APR 30.
Source:
Essential Science Indicators. |
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ESI Special
Topics: September 2007
Citing URL: http://esi-topics.com/mfd/interviews/RF-ToddThorsen.html
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