ReviewNature communications2017
Microfluidics with fluid walls.
Review in Nature communications, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- From flow to form: structuring and patterning hydrogels using microfluidic approaches.Lab on a chip · 2026Review
- Generation of Clonal Cultures of Adherent or Suspension Cells Using Flat Sessile Drops for Assurance of Monoclonality.Biotechnology and bioengineering · 2025Article
- Suspended Tissue Open Microfluidic Patterning (STOMP).Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Suspended Tissue Open Microfluidic Patterning (STOMP).bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Open Microfluidic Cell Culture in Hydrogels Enabled by 3D-Printed Molds.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- A fluid-walled microfluidic platform for human neuron microcircuits and directed axotomy.Lab on a chip · 2024Article
- Visualization-enhanced under-oil open microfluidic system for in situ characterization of multi-phase chemical reactions.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Stable diffusion gradients in microfluidic conduits bounded by fluid walls.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2024Article
- Open millifluidics based on powder-encased channels.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Machining water through laser cutting of nanoparticle-encased water pancakes.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Miniaturizing chemistry and biology using droplets in open systems.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2023Review
- A platform for modular assembly and feeding of micro-organoids on standard Petri dishes.Biology open · 2023Article
- Under-oil open microfluidic systems for rapid phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing.Lab on a chip · 2023Article
- Interfacial tension driven open droplet microfluidics.Advanced materials interfaces · 2023Article
- In Vitro and In Vivo Characterization Methods for Evaluation of Modern Wound Dressings.Pharmaceutics · 2022Review
- Suicidal chemotaxis in bacteria.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Reconfigurable Microfluidic Circuits for Isolating and Retrieving Cells of Interest.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2022Article
- Under-Oil Autonomously Regulated Oxygen Microenvironments: A Goldilocks Principle-Based Approach for Microscale Cell Culture.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2022Article
- Reconfigurable microfluidics.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2022Review
- Novel, Emerging Chip Models of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Future Directions.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Microfluidics has great potential, but the complexity of fabricating and operating devices has limited its use. Here we describe a method - Freestyle Fluidics - that overcomes many key limitations. In this method, liquids are confined by fluid (not solid) walls. Aqueous circuits with any 2D shape are printed in seconds on plastic or glass Petri dishes; then, interfacial forces pin liquids to substrates, and overlaying an immiscible liquid prevents evaporation. Confining fluid walls are pliant and resilient; they self-heal when liquids are pipetted through them. We drive flow through a wide range of circuits passively by manipulating surface tension and hydrostatic pressure, and actively using external pumps. Finally, we validate the technology with two challenging applications - triggering an inflammatory response in human cells and chemotaxis in bacterial biofilms. This approach provides a powerful and versatile alternative to traditional microfluidics.The complexity of fabricating and operating microfluidic devices limits their use. Walsh et al. describe a method in which circuits are printed as quickly and simply as writing with a pen, and liquids in them are confined by fluid instead of solid walls.
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.