Small droplets feel the vibe

A team of researchers at the University of Bristol have used ultrasonic forces to accurately pattern thousands of microscopic water-based droplets. Each droplet can be designed to perform a biochemical experiment, which could pave the way for highly efficient lab-on-a-chip devices with future applications in drug discovery and clinical diagnostics. In a new study , an interdisciplinary team from Bristol's departments of chemistry, physics and engineering, have shown a non- method to pattern chemically encoded aqueous droplets into a two-dimensional array under water. The method uses ultrasonic forces combined with droplet technology to spontaneously create a highly uniform pattern of low surface tension functional water-based droplets. The arrays can be thought of as a new type of highly parallel platform for performing high-throughput analyses in water for drug discovery, clinical diagnostics and protein crystallization. The ability to perform thousands of microscale experiments simultaneously will lead to more efficient lab-on-a-chip technologies. Current patterning technologies require oil and water mixtures or exposure on a dry surface to achieve arrays of high surface tension droplets.