Group Den Toonder

Our mission is to make things move at small scales: fluids, particles, molecules, solid structures. We do this by carrying out research in our Microfab/lab, where we develop innovative technological concepts and fabrication methods to create novel microfluidic devices and microactuators, serving a wide range of applications.

We make things move at small scales!

In microfluidic systems, active control of fluids and species is essential. Examples are fluid pumping, mixing, mechanical actuation, sorting of cells and particles, and biomolecule capture for diagnostics. We develop and apply micro-actuators, responsive surfaces, and magnetic bead actuation systems, to realize these functions. Our approaches are often biologically inspired, translating principles from nature into technological innovations.

As an important application of our microfluidic systems, and in collaboration with biological, biomedical, and clinical groups, we develop biomedical microdevices to study and understand the behavior of cells, tissues, and organs. This work is aimed at learning about health and disease, and eventually developing novel therapies and medicines. Specifically, we develop organs-on-chips as in-vitro disease models focusing on cancer, we study mechanical properties of single cells, and we develop technologies for in-vitro diagnostics. In addition, we develop biomedical devices that can be applied to treat patients non-invasively, such as a glaucoma eye implant.

We also develop new concepts for microactuators that combine electrical, optical and/or mechanical functionalities, for other applications, from lithography machines to new display principles to air quality monitoring to microrobotics.