Jaap den Toonder

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Miniaturisation for chemistry, physics, biology and bioengineering

Jaap den Toonder studied at the Delft University of Technology and got his Master's degree in Applied Mathematics in 1991. He received a PhD degree (cum laude) from the same university in 1996 on a numerical/theoretical and experimental study of drag reduction in turbulent flows by polymer additives.

In 1995, he joined the Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where he started working in the field of the mechanics of solid materials. He has worked on a wide variety of applications, such as ceramic capacitors, optical storage systems, IC low-k materials, RF MEMS, soft electronics, biomedical devices, polymer MEMS, and micro-fluidics. In 2008, he made the move to Philips Applied Technologies where, as chief scientist, he is leading the R&D program on (micro-)fluidics. He is involved in research programs on molecular diagnostics, lab-on-chip, immersion lithography, and energy applications. His activities range from the development of novel micro-fluidic concepts such as micro-actuators for micro-mixing and optically controlled electrowetting, to the industrialization of micro-fluidics technology by the realization of complete micro-fluidics based systems such as a handheld drugs-of-abuse tester or a fully automatic table-top instrument for infectious disease testing.

Since 2004, Jaap den Toonder combines his work at Philips with a part-time professorship at the Materials Technology group of the University of Technology of Eindhoven. His current main university research interests are: micro-fluidics, mechanical properties of biological cells, nature-inspired micro-actuators, and micro-mixing.

Jaap den Toonder has (co-)authored around 50 scientific papers, as well as over 40 patent applications.