<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Dear Soft Matter & Complex Systems Colleagues and Friends,</font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Happy New Year to all! </font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">On Friday 10 January 2025 at 9:30 AM at the UW Faculty of Physics (Pasteura 5, Warsaw; room 1.40) we are hosting a seminar during which </font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><b>Tetuko Kurniawan</b></font><font face="HelveticaNeue"><b> </b></font><font face="HelveticaNeue">(</font><font face="HelveticaNeue">IPPT PAN)</font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">will give a talk</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><div><h2 style="margin: 6px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Formation of Droplets in Microfluidic Cross-Junctions and Their Application as Cell Incubators</span></font></h2><h2 style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 6px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><b style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"><font face="HelveticaNeue" style="font-size: 12px;">Abstract</font></b></h2></div><div><font face="HelveticaNeue">Droplet microfluidics is an innovative technique in biomedical research that leverages the creation of small, isolated compartments formed by immiscible fluids, typically a water-in-oil system, within a network of microscale channels on a chip. In this talk, I will explore droplet formation in the very low capillary number regime. Interestingly, droplet formation in this regime diverges from the well-known squeezing mechanism, as evidenced by a significant increase in droplet size and neck length before pinch-off with respect to the capillary number. A generalized scaling law was developed to predict droplet volume in microfluidic cross-junctions and was validated using experimental data from devices with varying cross-sectional geometries. These findings deepen our understanding of droplet formation mechanics in the very low capillary number range. Additionally, I will discuss the practical applications of droplet microfluidics as micro-sized incubators for cell culture. Effective strategies for reducing the loading time of cell-containing media and minimizing droplet liquid mass transport through the permeable PDMS material will be presented, resulting in the ability to sustain the viability of most cells for over 24 hours.</font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><br></div></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">We warmly welcome everyone to attend the talk and the Soft Matter Coffee Break after the seminar, held in room 2.63 (2nd floor).</font></div></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><font face="HelveticaNeue"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Maria Ekiel-Jeżewska</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Maciej Lisicki</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Piotr Szymczak</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Panagiotis Theodorakis</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="HelveticaNeue">Marek Trippenbach</font></div></div></div></body></html>