Was a pleasure having you!

Where do you see the advantage compared to microfluidics, which can manipulate more cells at faster rates?

▪️Nicole N. Hashemi (Iowa State U): On-Chip Characterization of Microorganisms 🦠 Using Hydrodynamic
Focusing & Integrated Optics

▪️Pavan Kumar (Indian Institute of Science Education & Research): Hot Brownian Dynamics 🔥 in 2D Optical Traps

▪️Gerhard Gompper (FZ Jülich): Swimming 🏊‍♂️ & Swarming of Intelligent Active Particles

▪️Francesca Bragheri (I Photonics & Nanotech): Optofluidic Platforms for Super-Resolution Microscopy 🔬

Day 2:

▪️Lynn Paterson (Heriot-Watt U): Optical Manipulation💡 & Sensing of Cells & Particles in Ultrafast Laser Inscribed µfluidics

▪️Tetsuro Tsuji (Kyoto U): Connection Between Thermo-Osmosis and Thermophoresis 🔥

▪️Raúl A. Rica (U Granada): Heat Generation in Optical Tweezers 🪤

▪️Holger Stark (TU Berlin): Designing and
Controlling Active Flow 🌀by Activity Patterns

▪️Christina Kurzthaler (MPI PCS): Swimming 🏊 in Complex Environments ⛰️

▪️Jaime Ortega Arroyo (ETH): Sensing 📡 in pl Volumes

▪️Mikael Käll (Chalmers): Directional Marangoni
Flows 🌀Induced by Laser Heating of Gold

Thanks to my wonderful collaborators @rquidant.bsky.social, Carlos, Emilio, Raul, Marc and Jaime for this successful project, sponsored by a PostDoctoral Fellowship of @snsf.ch within the lab @quidantsnsl.bsky.social

🚀 Our light-powered, reconfigurable #microfluidics opens the door to multifunctional, adaptive devices, which are ideal for lab-on-chip chemical synthesis, diagnostics, cell and analyte handling. These feedback-tuned thermal landscapes could transform compact experimental workflows. #optothermal

🎯📏 Arrays sort particles by size similar to a microscopic version of a Galton board 🎲 using only light & heat 🌞💧. Larger ones deflect differently than smaller ones, enabling precise, programmable sorting with no pumps or any moving parts.

💡🎛️ Projected patterns via a spatial light modulator form barriers that steer ↩️, split ✂️, merge ➕, or trap 🌀 particles. Designs switch in <100 ms ⚡ enabling real-time reconfiguration for complex microfluidic tasks.

Brief summary: 🔬✨ Using structured light, we created 3D thermal barriers 🌡️💧 in microchannels without requiring any walls! Barriers reshape flow & move particles 🎯 on-demand, enabling fast, contact-free control for lab-on-chip systems.

First three images on this news post are from our lab 🥼

Check it out, you can see we had fun 🤩