Origins and the Future of Microfluidics

Abstract

“The origins and the future of microfluidics" is the title of  a famous paper by Prof George Whitesides, published in Nature in 2006, now cited thousands of times. The speaker will take this paper as a starting point to present microfluidics. Today, a striking feature of the field is that it responds to an outstanding and exciting diversity of needs expressed by the society and the industry. As a result, microfluidics technology - that progresses swiftly - diffuses in an increasing number of areas. This movement nurtures its growth. It concerns the biomedical domain,  but is not limited to that. Microfluidics has considerably progressed since 2000, but is not mature yet. Nanofluidics is even less mature, but paradoxically, its impact on society could eventually be stronger. Throughout the talk, the speaker will use the work done by a new Institute in Paris (Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes) to illustrate the presentation.

About the speaker

Prof. Patrick Tabeling received his PhD from University of Paris VI in 1980. He worked as the research scientist in LPS ENS (Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de Ecole Normale Supéieure) from 1976 to 1990. Since 1990, He became the Directeur de Recherches in LPS ENS. In 2001, He became the Director of Microfluidics, MEMS & Nanostructures Laboratory (MMN), in the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI ParisTech) and is currently the Professor at ESPCI ParisTech.

Prof. Tabeling’s research focuses on turbulence and microfluidics, which covers the study and realization of fluid flows, single or multiphase, in micro-systems. He received numerous awards including the Slichting award (1996) and the Sylvia Sorken Greenfield Award (2011).  He was also elected as the member for Academia Europaea (as known as the European Academy of Sciences).