Iolan solving microscopic problems

Iolan Keil Regehr had a paper on microfluidics published in “Lab on a Chip,” a journal of Britain’s Royal Society of Chemistry, this summer.
“Microfluidics is a relatively new field,” said Regehr. “The idea is you can do a wide range of diagnostic and analytical tests with very small volumes of fluid.”
Regehr’s research, for example, uses only 5 microliters of fluid per study sample. His test tubes are only 5 millimeters long, .6 mm wide and just .25 mm high.
“At that scale, the attractive forces between water molecules and simple diffusion ... dictate how the liquid flows,” he said. For example, he said, “If yellow and blue streams of water were flowing next to each other in a microchannel, they would not mix and look green, they would just look like a blue stripe and a yellow stripe.”
Scientists use the technology to replicate situations in which cells form in the body. “This gives scientists more clinically relevant results,” Regehr said.
Regehr, who is working on a doctorate in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, works in a lab that specializes in researching breast cancer.
Regehr’s research focused on deciphering problems had with certain cell cultures grown in the microchannels .
Regehr presented his data at a conference in Quebec City in April, where it was well received. 
“In the end, the most satisfying thing about this paper will be that it was truly useful information that brought some subtle problems to light,” he said.
Regehr and his wife Stacy reside in Madison with their new baby, Zoey. He is the son of Iola Middle School teacher Donna and elementary physical education teacher Larry Regehr.