Several micro- and nanomanipulation techniques have emerged in recent decades thanks to advances in micro- and nanofabrication. For instance, the atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a nano-sized tip to image, push, pull, cut, and indent biological material in air, liquid, or vacuum. Using micro- and nanofabrication techniques, scientists can make manipulation tools, such as microgrippers and nanotweezers, on the same length scale as the biological samples. Micro and Nano Techniques for the Handling of Biological Samples reviews the different techniques available to manipulate and integrate biological materials in a controlled manner, either by sliding them along a surface (2-D manipulation), or by gripping and moving them to a new position (3-D manipulation). The advantages and drawbacks are mentioned together with examples that reflect the state-of-the-art in manipulation techniques for biological samples. Thanks to the advances in micro- and nanomanipulation techniques, the integration of biomaterials with physical transducers has been possible, giving rise to new and highly sensitive biosensing devices. Although great progress has been made, challenges are still present. To understand the complex interactions between and inside biological samples, scientists will always be working on improving technologies to manipulate, transport, sort, and integrate samples in different environments. Balanced between simplicity for the beginner and hardcore theory for the more advanced readers, this book is the ideal launching point for sharpening the scientific tools required to address these challenges.

The self-organization of bionanostructures into well-defined functional machineries found in nature has been a priceless source of ideas for researchers. The molecules of life, proteins, DNA, RNA, etc., as well as the structures and forms that these molecules assume serve as rich sources of ideas for scientists or engineers who are interested in developing bio-inspired materials for innovations in biomedical fields. In nature, molecular self-assembly is a process by which complex three-dimensional structures with well-defined functions are constructed, starting from simple building blocks such as proteins and peptides. This book introduces readers to the theory and mechanisms of peptide self-assembly processes. The authors present the more common peptide self-assembled building blocks and discuss how researchers from different fields can apply self-assembling principles to bionanotechnology applications. The advantages and challenges are mentioned together with examples that reflect the state of the art of the use of self-assembled peptide building blocks in nanotechnology.

Research on new sensing concepts has opened the door to a wide variety of microsystems for clinical applications. Such devices are extremely useful for delivering diagnostic information in a fast, simple, and low cost fashion. This book is one of the first to focus on the use of nanotechnology in diagnostics. Designed as a broad survey of the field, this book combines contributions by international experts from divergent fields of study ranging from single molecule diagnostics to cell based systems.

These contribution books collect reviews and original articles from eminent experts working in the interdisciplinary arena of biomaterial development and use. From their direct and recent experience, the readers can achieve a wide vision on the new and ongoing potentials of different synthetic and engineered biomaterials. Contributions were not selected based on a direct market or clinical interest, than on results coming from very fundamental studies which have been mainly gathered for this book. This fact will also allow to gain a more general view of what and how the various biomaterials can do and work for, along with the methodologies necessary to design, develop and characterize them, without the restrictions necessarily imposed by industrial or profit concerns. The book collects 22 chapters related to recent researches on new materials, particularly dealing with their potential and different applications in biomedicine and clinics: from tissue engineering to polymeric scaffolds, from bone mimetic products to prostheses, up to strategies to manage their interaction with living cells.

Ultrasonic nano/microfabrication, handling and driving is an emerging actuation technology, which utilizes ultrasonic vibration and the physical effects of ultrasonic vibration in fluids and solids to implement the fabrication, handling and driving of nano/micro scale objects. This book provides readers with the fundamentals, principles and characteristics of the ultrasonic devices for nano/micro fabrication, handling and driving, and design methods of the devices. Introduces fundamental concepts and offers examples of ultrasonic nano fabrication, including ultrasonic nano rolling, cutting and coating methods Features a wealth of examples to illustrate the ultrasonic concentration and ultrasonic tweezers Explains the principles of ultrasonic driving of gas molecules and demonstrates their applications in high-performance gas sensor systems and metal-air flow batteries Teaches the principles of ultrasonic driving of microfluids and their applications in metal-air flow batteries and cooling of small solid heat sources Provides examples for the finite element method (FEM) modeling and computation of ultrasonic devices for nano/micro fabrication, handling and driving Summarizes the current and future trends in ultrasonic nano/microfabrication, handling, and driving This book shares the advances, methods and applications of ultrasonic micro/nano fabrication techniques for entry-level and advanced readers working on nano/microfabrication, gas sensing, biological sensing, metal-air batteries, electronic component cooling, and other related areas.

Demands for high-performance micro/nano manipulations, from the manufacture of microelectronic and photonic devices, biomedical apparatus, nanoscience and nanotechnology, renewable energy, environment protection, and high-end appliances, have been rapidly increasing in recent years. However, there are very few books on ultrasonic manipulation technology, which is one of the important means in micro/nano manipulations.This unique title gives the basic physical principles of ultrasonic micro/nano manipulations, and highlights methods of implementing these principles. The nonlinear effects of ultrasound are described in details after piezoelectric transduction and acoustic field are introduced and discussed. Numerous important examples are given in this book, to help readers better understand the applications of these principles and characteristics of ultrasonic manipulators utilizing these principles. The examples cover the manipulations of micro solids, nanoscale entities, droplets and microfluid.This indispensable book will contribute positively to the development and application of micro/nano manipulation technology.

The development and advancement of personalised health management systems requires the consideration of advances in sensor technologies and advanced textiles in addition to nano technologies and evolving information and communication technologies. We are now living in an environment where changes in healthcare structures and requests from patients to have an increased participation in their own healthcare are demanding the availability of affordable and readily available personalised health management systems. Recent research has taken us a step closer in providing such solutions, however, efforts are still required to address the issues of integration of new technologies into existing health care practices, implications of interoperability of services, analysis of results following large scale clinical evaluations and development of technology which is small, reliable and affordable by its users. This publication shows a synergy between research efforts in three diverse areas; sensor technologies, advanced textiles and nanotechnology and computing. It brings together researchers from academia, industry and clinical healthcare provision and emphasises the need for multi-disciplinary collaborations in the future developments of personalised health management systems.

Self-assembled nanostructures based on peptides and proteins have been investigated and presented as biomaterials with an impressive potential for a broad range of applications such as microfabrication, biosensing platforms, drug delivery systems, bioelectronics and tissue reparation. Through self-assembly peptides can give rise to a range of well-defined nanostructures such as nanotubes, nanofibers, nanoparticles, nanotapes, gels and nanorods. However, there are challenges when trying to integrate these biological nanostructures in the development of sensing devices or drug-delivery systems – challenges such as controlling the size during synthesis, the stability in liquid environments and manipulation. In "Micro and Nanofabrication Using Self-assembled Biological Nanostructures" the options and challenges when using self-assembled peptide nanostructures in micro and nanofabrication are discussed. The publication covers different ways to manipulate, deposit and immobilize on specific locations these biological nanostructures in order to use them in the fabrication of new structures or as part of biosensing platforms. Examples where researchers used biological nanostructures for those types of applications are provided. Finally, future applications are discussed as well as parameters to accelerate and expand the use of these biological building blocks in nano- and micro-fabrication processes by taking advantage of their impressive properties such as low-cost and short synthesis time.

The Sixth International Conference on Miniaturized Chemical and Biochemical Analysis Systems, known as IlTAS2002, will be fully dedicated to the latest scientific and technological developments in the field of miniaturized devices and systems for realizing not only chemical and biochemical analysis but also synthesis. The first IlTAS meeting was held in Enschede in 1994 with approximately 160 participants, bringing together the scientists with background in analytical and biochemistry with those with Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in one workshop. We are grateful to Piet Bergveld and Albert van den Berg of MESA Research Institute of the University of Twente for their great efforts to arrange this exciting first meeting. The policy of the meeting was succeeded by late Prof. Dr. Michael Widmer in the second meeting, IlTAS'96 held in Basel with 275 participants. The first two meetings were held as informal workshops. From the third workshop, IlTAS'98 (420 participants) held in Banff, the workshop had become a worldwide conference. Participants continued to increase in IlTAS2000 (about 500 participants) held in Enschede and IlTAS2001 (about 700 participants) held in Monterey. The number of submitted papers also dramatically increased in this period from 130 in 1998, 230 in 2000 to nearly 400 in 2001. From 2001, IlTAS became an annual symposium. The steering committee meeting held in Monterey, confirmed the policy of former IlTAS that quality rather than quantity would be the key-point and that the parallel-session format throughout the 3.

The tools of nanodiagnostics, nanotherapy, and nanorobotics are expected to revolutionize the future of medicine, leading to presymptomatic diagnosis of disease, highly effective targeted treatment therapy, and minimum side effects. Handbook of Nanophysics: Nanomedicine and Nanorobotics presents an up-to-date overview of the application of nan