Microfluidic research has been developing over the last 3 decades and has become a major analytical tool in the research fields for chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, life sciences, and many other areas. The MicroTAS conference is the largest forum for reporting the latest achievements and innovations in microfluidics research, but unfortunately the “physical” MicroTAS conference this year at Palm Springs was postponed to 2021 because of the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic. To adapt to the many challenges put on us by the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic, the Chemical & Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS) board decided to run a MicroTAS 2020 conference (https://microtas2020.org/) for the first time as an online event. On this occasion, Analytical Chemistry is highlighting microfluidic research to coincide with the virtual MicroTAS 2020 conference. In this Virtual Issue, papers published in Analytical Chemistry from 2017 through July 2020 are featured. Thirty papers, including papers authored by the recipients of the Analytical ChemistryYoung Innovator Award, are highlighted from over 550 papers published during this period. We include papers on microfluidic viral detection, including SARS-CoV-2, and microfluidic bioanalytical applications based on the spiral inertial microfluidics, acoustofluidics, aptamer-based fluorescent sensor arrays, and photoelectrochemical immunoassays. Also included are papers on omics and systems biology using microfluidics coupled with DNA logic operations, CRISPR-Cas system, MALDI-MS, and small-angle X-ray scattering. Research on cell manipulation, separation, and detection is the most actively studied in the microfluidic fields, including artificial cell membrane biosensing, open microfluidic cytometry, isolation and phenotypic profiling of circulating tumor cells, artificial cells, and single cell-matrix adhesion measurements. Microfluidics is expanding its research targets from cells to exosomes, extracellular vesicles, and submicrometer particles, such as on-chip isolation and detection of tumor-derived exosomes, submicrometer bioparticle separations, submicrometer particle focusing and exosome sorting, and extracellular vesicle quantification. Digital microfluidics and droplet microfluidics, which are undoubtedly extremely important technologies in this field, were applied to plug-n-play sensing, digital quantification of biomolecules, single-cell sorting, bacterial transformation, and particle manipulation. Three-dimensional printing is a promising technology for fabricating microfluidic devices for bioanalytical and other applications. Wearable devices and paper microfluidics are the enormously important platforms for future healthcare and biomedical applications. I hope that this Virtual Issue inspires the readers of Analytical Chemistry to recognize that the papers highlighted here are on the cutting edge of microfluidic technologies. Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. This article has not yet been cited by other publications.

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强调微流研究以配合虚拟MicroTAS 2020会议

在过去的30年中，微流体研究一直在发展，并已成为化学，物理，生物学，医学，生命科学和许多其他领域研究领域的主要分析工具。MicroTAS会议是报告微流体研究的最新成就和创新的最大论坛，但不幸的是，由于SARS-CoV-2全球大流行，今年在棕榈泉举行的“物理” MicroTAS会议被推迟到2021年。为了适应SARS-CoV-2全球大流行给我们带来的许多挑战，化学与生物微系统协会（CBMS）董事会决定首次举办MicroTAS 2020会议（https://microtas2020.org/）。作为在线活动。这次，分析化学与虚拟MicroTAS 2020会议相吻合的是，它着重强调了微流体研究。在本期虚拟期刊中，精选了2017年至2020年7月在《分析化学》上发表的论文。30篇论文，包括《分析化学》收件人的论文在此期间发表的550多篇论文中，青年创新奖获得了突出体现。我们包括有关微流体病毒检测（包括SARS-CoV-2）的论文，以及基于螺旋惯性微流体，声声流体，基于适体的荧光传感器阵列和光电化学免疫测定法的微流体生物分析应用。还包括有关使用微流体技术结合DNA逻辑操作，CRISPR-Cas系统，MALDI-MS和小角度X射线散射的组学和系统生物学的论文。细胞操纵，分离和检测的研究是微流体领域中最活跃的研究，包括人工细胞膜生物传感，开放式微流体细胞术，循环肿瘤细胞，人工细胞的分离和表型分析以及单细胞基质粘附性测量。微流体正在将其研究目标从细胞扩展到外泌体，细胞外囊泡和亚微米颗粒，例如片上分离和检测肿瘤来源的外泌体，亚微米生物颗粒分离，亚微米颗粒聚焦和外泌体分选以及细胞外囊泡定量。数字微流体和液滴微流体无疑是该领域中极为重要的技术，已应用于即插即用感测，生物分子的数字定量，单细胞分选，细菌转化和颗粒处理。三维打印是一种用于生物分析和其他应用的微流控设备制造技术。可穿戴设备和纸张微流体是未来医疗保健和生物医学应用中极为重要的平台。分析化学认识到这里强调的论文是微流技术的最前沿。本社论中表达的观点只是作者的观点，不一定是ACS的观点。本文尚未被其他出版物引用。