Flow and microflow-applications in biomedical sensing devices

Fluid microflow using porous filters and capillaries offers a valuable means of transferring small volumes of fluid sample and reagents located within one element of a sensor complex to another, viz. the detector surface. Alternatively, fluid microflow directed over a sensor surface can provide a mobile self-cleaning barrier protecting the sensor interface. Useful advances in the application of microflow technology for biomedical sensing devices have been achieved at the University of Manchester using both these strategies. This presentation concerns the role respectively of microflow at electrochemical sensors for in-vivo needles to measure glucose and in-vitro planar sensors for immunomediated hormone analysis