ReviewLab on a chip2016
The upcoming 3D-printing revolution in microfluidics.
Review in Lab on a chip, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 386 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
386 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1,089 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microfluidic chips in female reproduction: a systematic review of status, advances, and challenges.Theranostics · 2024Pooled it
- From barrier to guide: Exploiting disease-specific hemodynamics for enhanced nanodrug targeting in cardiovascular diseases.Pharmaceutical science advances · 2026Review
- Simulation-guided design of a 3D flow focusing chip for the uniform production of polymer dots.RSC advances · 2026Article
- A wearable closed-loop insulin micropump toward a miniaturized artificial pancreas for diabetes.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Electrochemical Biosensors for Circulating Tumor Cells and ctDNA: Emerging Strategies for Precision Oncology.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Review
- Review
- Integrating Low-Voltage Microfluidics With On-Chip Electrospray Ionization for Miniaturized Protein Analysis.Small methods · 2026Review
- Organ-on-a-Chip Technology: Advances in Modeling Inflammation, Neurovascularization and Nociception in Human Intervertebral Disc Degeneration.Smart medicine · 2026Review
- Low-cost, tape-sealed, PDMS-molded devices using 3D printing for cell adhesion under flow.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2026Article
- Exploiting Device Deformability for Fluid and Particle Manipulation.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- Servo-Actuated 3D-Printed Disposable Microvalves for Automated, Scalable Organoid Culture in Standard Incubators.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Machine learning guided formulation design of digital light processing printable elastomers beyond viscosity stretchability tradeoff.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A pump-free microfluidic device for integrated multi-functional testing of tumor spheroids.APL bioengineering · 2026Article
- Peripheral nerve sheath tumors-on-a-chip: Next-generation platforms for mechanistic and therapeutic studies.Materials today. Advances · 2026Article
- Adhesion of resin cement to 3D printed dental polymers: effect of layer thickness and air abrasion.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Article
- Article
- 3D-Printed Closed-Channel Spiral Inertial Microfluidic Device for Size-Based Particle Separation.Micromachines · 2026Article
- Review
- Fast multi-resolution 3D printing of microfluidics: enabling 2 μm channels and ultra-compact mixers.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Microfluidics-Assisted Three-Dimensional Confinement of Cholesteric Liquid Crystals for Sensing Applications.Micromachines · 2026Review
326 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In the last two decades, the vast majority of microfluidic systems have been built in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) by soft lithography, a technique based on PDMS micromolding. A long list of key PDMS properties have contributed to the success of soft lithography: PDMS is biocompatible, elastomeric, transparent, gas-permeable, water-impermeable, fairly inexpensive, copyright-free, and rapidly prototyped with high precision using simple procedures. However, the fabrication process typically involves substantial human labor, which tends to make PDMS devices difficult to disseminate outside of research labs, and the layered molding limits the 3D complexity of the devices that can be produced. 3D-printing has recently attracted attention as a way to fabricate microfluidic systems due to its automated, assembly-free 3D fabrication, rapidly decreasing costs, and fast-improving resolution and throughput. Resins with properties approaching those of PDMS are being developed. Here we review past and recent efforts in 3D-printing of microfluidic systems. We compare the salient features of PDMS molding with those of 3D-printing and we give an overview of the critical barriers that have prevented the adoption of 3D-printing by microfluidic developers, namely resolution, throughput, and resin biocompatibility. We also evaluate the various forces that are persuading researchers to abandon PDMS molding in favor of 3D-printing in growing numbers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.