State-of-the-art
The possibility of performing a variety of manipulations and operations on a small scale using miniaturized devices at the micro and nanoscale is becoming very attractive and appealing. These devices are ideal for handling and testing biological samples, where it is necessary to work with small volumes of liquids and small amounts of material. In fact, in their normal environment, cells receive specific chemical inputs which are restricted in space and time if aimed at obtaining a very fine control of biological processes and events. Therefore, it is useful to develop miniaturized Micro/nanosystems for handling cells [El-Ali et al. 2006] on substrates where cells can live and grow in a healthy and controlled way.
Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) offer the possibility of recording simultaneously the electrical activity of several tens and possibly hundreds of neurons. MEAs are usually made of metal electrodes int
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Nanoimprint lithography and microcontact printing have been, for more than a decade, the main techniques in a class of emerging topographic and chemical nanopatterning methods. With nanoimprinting l
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Microfluidics is a new scientific discipline, which is based on the manipulation of very small amounts of fluids on a chip. Because of the possibility of integrating different functionalities, micro
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Optical tweezers allow, without direct contact, the trapping and the manipulation of particles ranging in size from tens of nanometres to tens of micrometres. Dielectric, metallic and biological sam
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