Isolated mixing regions (IMRs) are fluid regions that may or may not have interior mixing and are usually located far away from boundaries; however, they do not exchange material with regions of active global mixing and they therefore present a substantial obstacle to global mixing. Islands in two dimensions and tubes and tori in three dimensions are examples of IMRs. We investigate interrelated issues dealing with IMR detection and prediction, robustness, exploitation and control of IMRs using experiments and computations carried out in two model systems. Results indicate that it is possible to manipulate the area of IMRs in a controlled fashion, hence creating an analog of a controlled release capsule within a chaotic flow.