While there are many clinical drugs for prophylaxis and treatment, the search for those with low or no risk of side effects for the control of infectious and non-infectious diseases is a dilemma that cannot be solved by today’s traditional drug development strategies. The need for new drug development strategies is becoming increasingly important, and the development of new drugs from traditional medicines is the most promising strategy. Many valuable clinical drugs have been developed based on traditional medicine, including drugs with single active ingredients similar to modern drugs and those developed from improved formulations of traditional drugs. However, the problems of traditional isolation and purification and drug screening methods should be addressed for successful drug development from traditional medicine. Advances in microfluidics have not only contributed significantly to classical drug development but have also solved many of the thorny problems of new strategies for developing new drugs from traditional drugs. In this review, we provide an overview of advanced microfluidics and its applications in drug development (drug compound synthesis, drug screening, drug delivery, and drug carrier fabrication) with a focus on its applications in conventional medicine, including the separation and purification of target components in complex samples and screening of active ingredients of conventional drugs. We hope that our review gives better insight into the potential of traditional medicine and the critical role of microfluidics in the drug development process. In addition, the emergence of new ideas and applications will bring about further advances in the field of drug development.

Biological parameters extracted from electrical signals from various body parts have been used for many years to analyze the human body and its behavior. In addition, electrical signals from cancer cell lines, normal cells, and viruses, among others, have been widely used for the detection of various diseases. Single-cell parameters such as cell and cytoplasmic conductivity, relaxation frequency, and membrane capacitance are important. There are many techniques available to characterize biomaterials, such as nanotechnology, microstrip cavity resonance measurement, etc. This article reviews single-cell isolation and sorting techniques, such as the micropipette separation method, separation and sorting system (dual electrophoretic array system), DEPArray sorting system (dielectrophoretic array system), cell selector sorting system, and microfluidic and valve devices, and discusses their respective advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, it summarizes common single-cell electrical manipulations, such as single-cell amperometry (SCA), electrical impedance sensing (EIS), impedance flow cytometry (IFC), cell-based electrical impedance (CEI), microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and integrated microelectrode array (IMA). The article also enumerates the application and significance of single-cell electrochemical analysis from the perspectives of CTC liquid biopsy, recombinant adenovirus, tumor cells like lung cancer DTCs (LC-DTCs), and single-cell metabolomics analysis. The paper concludes with a discussion of the current limitations faced by single-cell analysis techniques along with future directions and potential application scenarios.

The illegal use of β-adrenergic agonists during livestock growth poses a threat to public health; the long-term intake of this medication can cause serious physiological side effects and even death. Therefore, rapid detection methods for β-adrenergic agonist residues on-site are required. Traditional detection methods such as liquid chromatography have limitations in terms of expensive instruments and complex operations. In contrast, paper methods are low cost, ubiquitous, and portable, which has led to them becoming the preferred detection method in recent years. Various paper-based fluidic devices have been developed to detect β-adrenergic agonist residues, including lateral flow immunoassays (LFAs) and microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs). In this review, the application of LFAs for the detection of β-agonists is summarized comprehensively, focusing on the latest advances in novel labeling and detection strategies. The use of μPADs as an analytical platform has attracted interest over the past decade due to their unique advantages and application for detecting β-adrenergic agonists, which are introduced here. Vertical flow immunoassays are also discussed for their shorter assay time and stronger multiplexing capabilities compared with LFAs. Furthermore, the development direction and prospects for the commercialization of paper-based devices are considered, shedding light on the development of point-of-care testing devices for β-adrenergic agonist residue detection.

Timely etiological diagnosis of viral hepatitis is essential for surveillance, treatment initiation, linkage to care, and elimination efforts. In resource-limited settings, however, diagnostic pathways are frequently disrupted by centralized nucleic acid testing, specimen-transport requirements, delayed reporting, and loss to follow-up. CRISPR-Cas-based point-of-care testing may help shorten these pathways, but its clinical value cannot be judged by analytical sensitivity alone. This review evaluates CRISPR-Cas strategies for detecting hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E viruses by linking molecular design to virus-specific clinical and public-health decisions. We compare target selection, Cas effectors, amplification strategies, readout formats, specimen processing, genotype coverage, clinical validation, and implementation feasibility. For each virus, the evidence is evaluated in relation to the principal diagnostic need, the potential contribution of CRISPR-Cas, the maturity of the available evidence, and the remaining requirements for deployment. Current evidence is most advanced for HBV and HCV, whereas HAV, HDV, and HEV applications remain less developed or more context dependent. Future platforms should prioritize clinically meaningful detection thresholds, closed-tube sample-to-answer workflows, internal controls, genotype-diverse validation, reagent stability, non-expert usability, and transparent pathway-level cost evaluation.

Biological parameters extracted from electrical signals from various body parts have been used for many years to analyze the human body and its behavior. In addition, electrical signals from cancer cell lines, normal cells, and viruses, among others, have been widely used for the detection of various diseases. Single-cell parameters such as cell and cytoplasmic conductivity, relaxation frequency, and membrane capacitance are important. There are many techniques available to characterize biomaterials, such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), nanotechnology, microstrip cavity resonance measurement, dielectric impedance measurement (DEPIM), etc. This article reviews the single cell isolation and sorting techniques, summarizes the common single cell operations such as impedance flow cytometry, cell electrical impedance, electrical impedance sensing, and summarizes the current single cell analysis techniques and their applications.

Effective management of drug-resistant tuberculosis requires molecular assays that not only detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis but also identify resistance-associated variants, support drug-level interpretation, and indicate when broader confirmatory testing is needed. This narrative review applies a mutation-to-drug-to-decision framework to distinguish assay validity, exact-variant detection, drug-level inference, and decision impact. We synthesize evidence on target accessibility, minority-allele preservation, multiplexing, direct-specimen testing, and sequencing enrichment, emphasizing how these factors shape clinical interpretability. Current evidence remains dominated by analytical studies, isolate-based evaluations, and small direct-specimen investigations, with prospective multicenter treatment-impact validation still lacking. Population-level benchmarks indicate incomplete biological coverage for compact target regions, reaching approximately 92.6% for rpoB RRDR-based rifampicin detection, 85.4% for katG codon 315 plus the inhA promoter for isoniazid, and 84.7%–88.2% for gyrA/gyrB -based fluoroquinolone detection. Allele-specific CRISPR is therefore best suited to rapid rule-in of selected resistance-associated variants, while dispersed or heterogeneous mechanisms require broader molecular or phenotypic assessment. CRISPR should complement WHO-recommended rapid molecular testing and targeted next-generation sequencing rather than replace established molecular or phenotypic methods.