Thirteen industry partners gathered recently at UC Irvine’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering for the inaugural meeting of participants in a new National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. The Center for Advanced Design & Manufacturing of Integrated Microfluidics will create design tools and manufacturing technologies for integrated microfluidics, also known as labs-on-a-chip. These tiny devices can be used for cost-effective, quick and easy diagnosis of problems in the environment, agriculture and human health.  Abraham Lee, UCI professor and chair of biomedical engineering, will serve as CADMIM director. “This center is a way to achieve higher levels of integration with academia and industry and enable real progress in the development of microfluidic devices.” The first such center led by UCI will have two sites–one on campus and one at the University of Cincinnati. The CADMIM industry advisory board, consisting of 13 members, will be chaired by David Yang, senior staff scientist at Beckman Coulter. It will meet twice a year to select projects to fund and evaluate ongoing ones. The NSF provides initial administrative funds for CADMIM, with industry partners contributing a majority of the first year’s $1 million operating and research budget. For more information, see story.