Introduction

As has been mentioned in Chapter 2, applications of micro- and nanofluidic analyses include drug delivery and its control, DNA manipulation and transport, protein separations, rapid molecular analysis, renal assist devices, biochemical sensing, and cancer treatment. In the present chapter, several of these applications are described, and modeling tools are developed using the ideas developed in the preceding chapters.

Generally, many of the biomedical devices being tested for the preceding aplications are essentially synthetic micro- or nanopore membranes consisting of an array of channels, much as in Figure 1.1. For example, these devices can be used to deliver insulin to a diabetes patient, as needed, in a highly controlled manner. They have also been considered for use as a renal assist device (RAD) whose purpose is to replace some of the functions of the kidney; this device is discussed later. DNA has been shown to be able to navigate through approximately cylindrical nanopores, and this problem is also discussed in this chapter; the in vivo transport of DNA through a nanopore has been demonstrated by Bayley and Cremer (2001).

More general applications of nanotechnology and additional information on some of the applications described may be found in the short monograph edited by Malsch (2005) and in the monograph by Ciofalo et al.