Recently, droplet-based microfluidic systems have been widely used in various biochemical and molecular biological assays. Since this platform technique allows manipulation of large amounts of data and also provides absolute accuracy in comparison to conventional bioanalytical approaches, over the last decade a range of basic biochemical and molecular biological operations have been transferred to drop-based microfluidic formats. In this review, we introduce recent advances and examples of droplet-based microfluidic techniques that have been applied in biochemistry and molecular biology research including genomics, proteomics and cellomics. Their advantages and weaknesses in various applications are also comprehensively discussed here. The purpose of this review is to provide a new point of view and current status in droplet-based microfluidics to biochemists and molecular biologists. We hope that this review will accelerate communications between researchers who are working in droplet-based microfluidics, biochemistry and molecular biology.

During the last decade, molecular diagnostics has become increasingly important, especially during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Advances in droplet‐based microfluidics, which divides samples into thousands of microdroplets, are responsible for high‐throughput data provision, increased analysis sensitivity, and improved performance to overcome challenges in controlling diseases and early diagnosis. Different targets, such as nucleic acids, proteins, or single cells, can be detected and analyzed in terms of their characteristics in a much more extensive and precise manner with the integration of droplet microfluidics into various molecular diagnostic techniques. In this review, we explore recent advances in the development of droplet microfluidics‐based molecular diagnostic techniques and future perspectives in the field.