Screening applications in drug discovery based on microfluidic technology

Area of Science:

• * Microfluidics and its application in pharmaceutical research.
• * Development of lab-on-a-chip systems for drug discovery.

Background:

• * Microfluidic technology offers advantages like reduced analysis time, low chemical consumption, and high throughput.
• * The pharmaceutical industry faces lengthy and expensive drug screening and commercialization processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To review microfluidic methods for drug candidate screening.
• * To focus on fabrication, flow types, kinetic parameter determination, toxicity assessment, and computational methods.

Main Methods:

• * Review of microfluidic fabrication techniques and materials.
• * Analysis of continuous and discrete flow advantages.
• * Examination of kinetic parameter determination and comparison with conventional systems.
• * Assessment of toxicity and cytotoxicity using microfluidic devices.
• * Evaluation of concentration generation for high-throughput screening and computational methods.

Main Results:

• * Microfluidic technology enables efficient drug screening with enhanced control over mass and heat transfer.
• * Applications include kinetic parameter determination, toxicity assessment, and high-throughput concentration generation.
• * Recent advancements include microengineered organs-on-chips and organ arrays.

Conclusions:

• * Microfluidic technology has matured over 20 years but still presents opportunities for research and development.
• * Innovative design and problem-solving are essential for advancing microfluidic applications in drug discovery.
• * Organs-on-chips represent a significant extension of microfluidic systems for pharmaceutical research.