Darren R. Link, Ph.D., of RainDance
Technologies, Inc., will present "Biology in Pico-Liter Droplets,"
a discussion of the commercialization of the use of picoliter droplets in microfluidic
channels for applications in the life sciences, at the LabAutomation2009 conference
on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, in Palm Springs, Calif.
RainDance Technologies is a provider of innovative microdroplet-based solutions
which enable and benefit biological applications utilized in human health and
disease research.
"In typical applications, cells, nucleic acids, enzymes, or other reagents
are encapsulated in aqueous phase droplets dispersed in a fluorinated carrier
oil. These droplets range from sub-picoliter to tens of nanoliters in volume,
and are manipulated on an individual basis to perform bioassays. Manipulations
such as adding reagents or sorting droplets based on their optical properties
are achieved solely through the application of external electric fields. Since
electric fields can be turned on or off at very high speeds, sorting rates exceeding
several thousand per second are readily achieved. We will introduce the techniques
used to generate and manipulate droplets and show several of the biological
applications that are enabled by this technology," said Dr. Link.
Dr. Link is Co-Founder and Vice President, Research and Development, RainDance
Technologies (www.RainDancetech.com). He holds a B.S. degree in physics from
Montana State University and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado.
Before joining RainDance, he spent two years at Harvard University as a postdoctoral
scientist studying soft materials physics in the department of physics and division
of engineering and applied sciences. Dr. Link spent two years at Tokyo Institute
of Technology as a postdoctoral scientist studying liquid crystalline materials.
He has received grant funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency and participated in the National Science Foundation's U.S.-Japan exchange
program for young scientists in Nanotechnology. Dr. Link has co-authored more
than 45 peer-reviewed articles and 10 patent applications. He also serves on
the Industrial Advisory Board of the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems
Research and Education.
Dr. Link will present "Biology in Pico-Liter Droplets" as part of
the Micro- and Nanotechnologies conference track LabAutomation2009, Wednesday,
January 28, 2009, from 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM at the Wyndham Hotel in Pasadena.
LabAutomation2009 (www.labautomation.org/LA09), the world's leading conference
and exhibition on emerging laboratory technologies, runs January 24-28, 2009.