NER: Flow Control Networks for Nanoscale Biofluidics

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0103076LeeThis proposal was received in response to NSE, NSF-0019. As the area of microfabricated biochemical instrumentation continues to grow, increasingly sophisticated devices are necessary. Fluid flows in the great majority of current microfluidic devices are electrically driven, especially for those involved in charge-based separations of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. This electrically driven flow offers numerous advantages over micromachined pressure-driven pumps, including ease of fabrication and operation, simplicity of integration with other functional elements, and the absence of moving parts. However, this electrical means of pumping suffers from the lack of simultaneous control over fluid flow in multiple interconnected channels, and the inability to perform spatial- or time-controlled modification of flow rate and direction.The realization of true lab-on-a-chip technology, in which the capability of desktop bioanalytical tools is replicated in a credit card sized package, will require precise flow control and metering in complex networks of interconnected microfluidic channels between mixers, reactors, reservoirs, separators, sensors, and related components. To this end, we propose to create an integrated system for fluid control in this miniaturized format. A novel microfluidic element, a microfluidic multiplexer, can overcome the limitations mentioned above for ordinary electrically driven fluid flow. This is accomplished by directly controlling the electrical properties at the inner surface of the microfluidic channels through the application of a radial, external electric field. The microfluidic multiplexer, which allows on-device flow control in complex microfluidic networks, will serve as the key component in a range of microfabricated devices for performing unique bioseparations and bioanalyses.