The field of microfluidics has over the years permeated many disciplines, from physics to biology and chemistry, and from bioengineering to medical research. One of the most important applications of lab-on-a-chip devices in medicine is disease diagnostics. This book details the advances in these processes using microfluidic devices.

Gels are materials composed of a three-dimensional crosslinked polymer or colloidal network immersed in a fluid. Hydrogels are gels that contain more than 90% of water. Of recent years, many hydrogel-based networks were designed and tailored to meet the needs of different applications and natural hydrogels were gradually being replaced by synthetic ones. This handbook explores significant development of hydrogels from characterization and applications.This volume covers state-of-art knowledge and techniques of fundamental aspects of hydrogel physics and chemistry with an eye on bioengineering...