MICROFLUIDICS & LAB-ON-A-CHIP RESEARCH GROUP (MLRG)

ACTIVITIES:

The miniaturization trend of electronic components since 1970’s and the development of advanced fabrication techniques for micro and nanoscale devices since 1980’s led to the usage of devices having the dimensions of micrometers and nanometers in many fields. As a consequence a field of microfluidics which deals with fluid flow phenomena at microscale became an interesting, rich research field. Fundamental understanding of the fluid, thermal and mass transport at microscale is very critical for the design and process control of the microfluidic systems.

Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices are the microfluidic platforms that can integrate complex chemical management and analysis systems onto one chip just millimeters or centimeters in size and can be interfaced with electronics and optical detection systems. The ultimate goal of the LOC technology is to develop portable devices that can accomplish the same analytical tasks fast and accurately as its room-sized or benchtop-sized counterparts, however, at much lower manufacturing and operational cost, and more importantly which can accomplish in-situ testing and detection. This kind of devices are being demanded by life sciences, space explorations, defense industry, atmospheric sciences, pharmaceutical research etc.

Bilkent University Microfluidics & Lab-on-a-chip Research Group (BU-MLRG)’s interest lies in the fundamental and experimental investigations on transport phenomena in microchannel networks and development of the LOC technology for biomedical, biological and chemical applications.