Microfluidics and nanotechnology : biosensing to the single molecule limit Preface Microtechnology and more recent nanotechnology methods have enabled the fabrication of a wide variety of new chemical and biological sensors. These sensors demonstrate exquisite sensitivity and low limits of detection enabling exploration of new scientific frontiers. In particular the novel physics that emerges at small length scales allows parallel mass fabricated sensors for detection to both single cell and single molecule limits. Stochastic differences between individual cells and molecules have been shown to play important roles in larger biological systems and these novel sensors have begun to test and elucidate these effects. This book focuses on the combination of soft materials like elastomers and other polymers with materials like semiconductors metals and glass to form integrated detection systems for biological and chemical targets. Microfluidic advances in this arena include systems for forming and analyzing tiny droplets (so called droplet microfluidics); the combination of electrostatic and dielectrics to manipulate droplets on the microscale; miniaturized separation systems including electrophoresis for detecting a wide range of genetic targets from single cells; and novel optical and mechanical detection methods at the single cell and single molecule scales. This book represents a snapshot of the state of the art from the worlds leading microfluidics and nanotechnology laboratories. The combination of different materials at both of these length scales is driving a powerful new set of scientific inquiries that have to date been impossible to address using other technologies. The book is arranged in two major sections. In Part I the authors discuss a number of unique detection technologies