Digital microfluidics as the optimal technology for bacterial protocol advances

The February 2023 issue of SLAS Technology contains a set of four original research articles and one review article covering digital microfluidics (DMF), cryopreservation, colorectal cancer research and other laboratory automation technology.

This month's featured article, "Digital microfluidics as an emerging tool for bacterial protocols," by Nemr, et al, provides a full assessment of DMF – an advanced liquid handling technology that utilizes electrostatic forces to manipulate microdroplets on a plate. The authors' assessment of DMF was based on 15 years' worth of compiled research and development on the technique.

DMF is used in synthetic biology (ligation, transformation and induction), diagnostics (nucleic acid detection and antibiotic susceptibility testing), and bacterial protocols for sample preparation. However, the authors identify additional applications that DMF may serve as the optimal technology for bacterial protocol advances due to its versatility.