The minireview summarizes the latest progress on catalytic confinement effects associated with biological synthesis in bio-nanochannels and catalytic reactions in artificial nanochannels in chemical engineering.

The capabilities of impedance cytometry to detect intracellular components (i.e., volume and distribution) are investigated, and it is found that non-uniform intracellular distribution causes the tilt tendency of high-frequency impedance pulses.

Bio-actuators that use insect muscular tissue have attracted attention from researchers worldwide because of their small size, self-motive property, self-repairer ability, robustness, and the need for less environment management than mammalian cells. To demonstrate the potential of insect muscular tissue for use as bio-actuators, three types of these robots, a pillar actuator, a walker, and a twizzer, have been designed and fabricated. However, a model of an insect muscular tissue-powered swimming robot that is able to float and swim in a solution has not yet been reported. Therefore, in this paper, we present a prototype of an insect muscular tissue-powered autonomous micro swimming robot that operates at room temperature and requires no temperature and pH maintenance. To design a practical robot body that is capable of swimming by using the force of the insect dorsal vessel (DV), we first measured the contraction force of the DV. Then, the body of the swimming robot was designed, and the design was confirmed by a simulation that used the condition of measured contraction force. After that, we fabricated the robot body using polydimethylpolysiloxane (PDMS). The PDMS body was obtained from a mold that was fabricated by a stereo lithography method. Finally, we carefully attached the DV to the PDMS body to complete the assembly of the swimming robot. As a result, we confirmed the micro swimming robot swam autonomously at an average velocity of 11.7 μm/s using spontaneous contractions of the complete insect DV tissue. These results demonstrated that the insect DV has potential for use as a bio-actuator for floating and swimming in solution.

A flexible manipulation platform combines microheaters and an area cooling system to position and manipulate single particles and cells.

Under the dual drivers of precision medicine development and health monitoring demands, the development of real-time biosensing technologies has emerged as a key breakthrough in the field of life science analytics. Microfluidic impedance detection technology, achieved through the integration of microscale fluid manipulation and bioimpedance spectrum analysis, has enabled the real-time monitoring of biological samples ranging from single cells to organ-level systems, now standing at the forefront of biological real-time detection research. This review systematically summarizes the core principles of microfluidic impedance detection technology, modeling methods for cell equivalent circuits, system optimization strategies, and recent research advancements in biological detection applications. We first elucidate the fundamental principles of microfluidic impedance detection technologies, followed by a comprehensive analysis of cellular equivalent circuit model construction and microfluidic system design optimization strategies. Subsequently, we categorize applications based on biological sample types, elaborating on respective research progress and existing challenges. This review concludes with prospective insights into future developmental trajectories. We hope this work will provide novel research perspectives for advancing microfluidic impedance detection technology while stimulating interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers in biology, medicine, chemistry, and physics to propel technological innovation collectively.