The Eighth International Conference on Miniaturized Systems in Chemistry and Life Science - MicroTas 2004 - is an annual meeting focusing on the research, development and application of miniaturized technologies and methodologies in chemistry and life science. The conference is celebrating its tenth anniversary after the first workshop at the University of Twente, The Netherlands in 1994. This research field is rapidly developing and changing towards a domain where core competence areas such as microfluidics, micro- and nanotechnology, materials science, chemistry, biology, and medicine are melting together to a truly interdisciplinary meeting place. This volume is the first in a two volume set, a valuable reference collection to all working in this field.

The Eighth International Conference on Miniaturized Systems in Chemistry and Life Science - MicroTas 2004 - is an annual meeting focusing on the research, development and application of miniaturized technologies and methodologies in chemistry and life science. The conference is celebrating its tenth anniversary after the first workshop at the University of Twente, The Netherlands in 1994. This research field is rapidly developing and changing towards a domain where core competence areas such as microfluidics, micro- and nanotechnology, materials science, chemistry, biology, and medicine are melting together to a truly interdisciplinary meeting place. This volume is the second in a two volume set, a valuable reference collection to all working in this field.

The manipulation of cells and microparticles within microfluidic systems using external forces is valuable for many microscale analytical and bioanalytical applications. Acoustofluidics is the ultrasound-based external forcing of microparticles with microfluidic systems. It has gained much interest because it allows for the simple label-free separation of microparticles based on their mechanical properties without affecting the microparticles themselves. Microscale Acoustofluidics provides an introduction to the field providing the background to the fundamental physics including chapters on governing equations in microfluidics and perturbation theory and ultrasound resonances, acoustic radiation force on small particles, continuum mechanics for ultrasonic particle manipulation, and piezoelectricity and application to the excitation of acoustic fields for ultrasonic particle manipulation. The book also provides information on the design and characterization of ultrasonic particle manipulation devices as well as applications in acoustic trapping and immunoassays. Written by leading experts in the field, the book will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers interested in microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip applications.