Microfluidic Horizons 2026

Session

Thursday 21/05, 14 - 19; Auditorium

Th2-A

May 21, 2026, 2:00 PM

144. Locally recirculating flow at near-zero Reynolds number

Dr Alexandre Avaro (École Polytechnique/Institut Pasteur)

5/21/26, 3:00 PM

Flow, wetting, and transport phenomena

Oral

While external flow control is straightforward to implement in microfluidics, it is fundamentally limited in its ability to generate spatially localized flow patterns or complex flow topologies. Programming localized, non-trivial flow patterns remains challenging, which limits the ability to mix local samples or to transport fluid between regions of microfluidic devices.

Here, we introduce...

86. Dynamics of evaporating, interconnected droplets

F. Box (University of Manchester, UK)

5/21/26, 3:20 PM

Flow, wetting, and transport phenomena

Oral

We report on the dynamics of a pair of droplets, connected together by a microchannel and undergoing constant contact radius evaporation. We see that for droplets of equal contact radii, unidirectional flow can arise from differences in droplet geometry and results in the larger droplet feeding the smaller droplet as they evaporate out. However, for droplets of unequal contact radii, the...

33. Stokes drag on a sphere in a three-dimensional anisotropic porous medium

5/21/26, 3:40 PM

Flow, wetting, and transport phenomena

Oral

In soft matter and biology, liquids permeating porous media are often found due to the occurrence of (polymeric) fibers, membranes, and colloidal particles. It is a key challenge to describe the flow through such systems —typically at a low Reynolds number— while also accounting for the precise porous microstructure of the medium. Therefore, understanding the macroscale flow properties often...

105. Mitigating sedimentation in syringe-driven microfluidic systems

Riccardo Reale (University of Rome Tor Vergata)

5/21/26, 4:00 PM

Flow, wetting, and transport phenomena

Oral

Many microfluidics and lab-on-chip (LOC) systems rely on syringe-based systems for the precise movimentation and delivery of cells and microparticles. Despite their widespread use, these systems remain vulnerable to sedimentation (i.e. the gravity-driven settling of suspended particles) which leads to non-uniform sample concentrations, clogging, reduced reproducibility, and unreliable outcomes...