Microfluidics of nano-drug delivery

After a brief review of microfluidics, a bio-MEMS application in terms of nanofluid flow in microchannels is presented. Specifically, the transient 3-D problem of controlled nano-drug delivery in a heated microchannel has been numerically solved to gain new physical insight and to determine suitable geometric and operational system parameters. Computer model accuracy was verified via numerical tests and comparisons with benchmark experimental data sets. The overall design goals of near-uniform nano-drug concentration at the microchannel exit plane and desired mixture fluid temperature were achieved with computer experiments considering different microchannel lengths, nanoparticle diameters, channel flow rates, wall heat flux areas, and nanofluid supply rates. Such micro-systems, featuring controlled transport processes for optimal nano-drug delivery, are important in laboratory-testing of predecessors of implantable smart devices as well as for analyzing pharmaceuticals and performing biomedical precision tasks. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.