Optical sensing in a microfluidic device

Stephen's research focused on the development of a high resolution microfluidic based optical biosensor. With microfluidic systems, measurements or sample manipulation that would otherwise require human involvement and costly laboratory equipment can now be performed on portable, disposable devices. Microfluidic devices with integrated optical sensing are able to analyse samples, at the bed-side, in the nano-litre quantities and are destined to become an essential tool in biotechnology and biomedicine. Stephen successfully demonstrated a microfluidic device capable of manipulating and trapping micrometer-sized particles that can be used as localised optical sensors for biological research, including stem cells and drug discovery.