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Updated: May 25, 2026

Fluorescence detection methods for microfluidic droplet platforms
Published on: December 10, 2011
Applying microdroplets as sensors for label-free detection of chemical reactions
Tobias W Hofmann1, Siegfried Hänselmann, Jan-Wilhelm Janiesch
1Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Department of New Materials and Biosystems, Stuttgart, Germany.
Abstract:
Despite its tremendous high-throughput screening capabilities, widespread applications of droplet-based microfluidics are still limited by the poor availability of appropriate analytical assays. Here we report on a novel sensor method that exploits the osmosis-driven change in droplet size as a quantitative and label-free marker for reactions inside the droplets. We present an analysis of the underlying mechanism and apply the method for monitoring metabolic activity at a single-cell level.
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