IUTAM Symposium on Fundamental Mechanics for Future Microfluidics

Microfluidics is a multi-billion-dollars industry, finding application in industries as diverse as agriculture, tissue engineering, fertility treatment, food safety and cancer research. However, many practitioners who use microfluidic lab-on-chip devices for biomedical and chemical diagnostics are limited by an over-reliance on viscosity-dominated thin-film flows inside rigid channels. This symposium will assemble a select group of active scientists to explore the paradigm-shifting possibilities associated with other physical regimes that are attainable (yet often avoided) in microfluidic devices. Advancing the state-of-the-art in microfluidics relies on exploring fundamental mechanical principles that can underpin future technologies and enable practitioners to achieve next-generation functionality in their lab-on-chip devices e.g., how shape-morphing channels can capture and release cargo on-demand, how passive propulsion can permit deployment outside of the laboratory, how adaptive channel networks can optimise flow transport, and how on-board actuation can be exploited for implantable technology. In a reciprocal manner, this symposium will also provide a platform for showcasing the innovative ways in which microfluidic devices can be used as a testing station for exploring the mechanics of more complex systems. By isolating processes and reducing complexity, microfluidic devices can perform as a model playground for discovering the dominant physics in realms as disconnected as physiological and neurological networks and packaging systems in food processing plants.