Importance of the field: Miniaturization is a significant driver for many life-science applications and a key technology for personalized medicine. Innovations in microfluidics will make ex vivo testing in in vivo-like environment possible, thus, allowing novel pathways for drug discovery.
Areas covered in this review: This review covers the application of miniaturization technologies, namely microfluidics for cell-based assay development. We highlight the use of microfluidics in sample preparation and clinical trials, review the progress towards in vivo-like test environments and point out practical challenges in the work with microfluidic systems.
What the reader will gain: The reader will gain an overview of the different application areas of miniaturized systems for cell-based assay-methods and the technologies involved in how they can be applied in the drug discovery process is given. Examples of clinical applications are pointed out.
Take home message: Miniaturization is a key technology driver for methodological progress in drug discovery. The enabling nature of this technology is reflected in the multitude of applications covering all aspects of the drug discovery process.