Applications of Microfluidics in Stem Cell Biology

Stem cell research can significantly benefit from recent advances of microfluidics technology. In a rationally designed microfluidic device, analyses of stem cells can be done in a much deeper and wider way than in a conventional tissue culture dish. Miniaturization makes analyses operated in a high-throughput fashion, while controls of fluids help to reconstruct the physiological environments. Through integration with present characterization tools like fluorescent microscope, microfluidics offers a systematic way to study the decision-making process of stem cells, which has attractive medical applications. In this paper, recent progress of microfluidic devices on stem cell research are discussed. The purpose of this review is to highlight some key features of microfluidics for stem cell biologists, as well as provide physicists/engineers an overview of how microfluidics has been and could be used for stem cell research.