PECASE: Harnessing Electrokinetic Flow Instabilities for Next Generation Microfluidics

提案名称：PECASE：利用下一代微流体的电动流动不稳定性机构：斯坦福大学本世纪最大的工程挑战之一是技术的发展，这些技术将使大规模平行药物发现工作、生物医学设备设计、基础遗传学研究、蛋白质组学和快速小型化生物武器检测成为可能。片上微流体在实现这些工具方面具有重要的和不断扩大的作用，并提供了在芯片上大规模并行化学实验室的潜力。特别是电动（EK）设备，结合了“工作”过程，如电泳、结合分析和电色谱，在紧凑、易于制造的设备中精确控制样品流，没有移动部件。最近在斯坦福微流体实验室进行的实验表明，有一类重要的EK流动尚未得到很好的理解，而且在很大程度上没有文献记载：在非均质液体流中出现的EK流动不稳定性。这些不稳定性发生在与片上分析相关的各种几何形状中，具有离子电导率梯度的流动特别容易受到影响。该研究计划与本科和研究生教学紧密结合，并在高中、本科和研究生阶段招收和保留工程领域代表性不足的学生。国家科学基金会的资助将使几项关键工作成为可能。首先，我们正在努力将三门工程课程的教学材料转换为多媒体格式，利用屏幕投影和动画笔记以及数字化电影剪辑进行有效的教学。资金还将用于扩大新开发的微设备流体流动课程的学生基础，通过斯坦福教学电视网络将该课程提供给其他机构（包括工业和政府实验室）。第三，NSF的资金将用于招募代表性不足群体的学生，通过与大学教育基金会（FCE）的合作，举办一系列研讨会，为高中生提供大学规划、完成大学申请（例如，帮助撰写大学论文）方面的建议，并向他们介绍科学和工程职业的许多回报。在本科阶段，美国国家科学基金会的资金将用于扩大与斯坦福大学工程多样性项目办公室的合作，以提高学生对研究的参与度。在研究生阶段，该奖项将帮助申请人扩大其在微流体研究发展领域中积极指导和激励来自代表性不足群体的研究生的作用。该项目最初是作为职业奖资助的，并于2004年9月转换为工程师和科学家的总统早期职业奖（PECASE）奖。

Proposal Title: PECASE: Harnessing Electrokinetic Flow Instabilities for NextGeneration MicrofluidicsInstitution: Stanford UniversityAmong the greatest engineering challenges of the century are the development of technologies that will enable massively parallel drug discovery efforts, biomedical device design, fundamental genetics research, proteomics, and rapid and miniaturized biological weapon detection. On-chip microfluidics has an important and expanding role in the realization of such tools and offers the potential of massively parallel chemical laboratories on a chip. Electrokinetic (EK) devices, in particular, combine "work-horse" processes such aselectrophoresis, binding assays, and electro-chromatography with a precise control of sample streams in compact, easy-to-fabricate devices with no moving parts. Recent experiments performed in the Stanford Microfluidics Laboratory demonstrate that there is an important class of EK flows that are not well understood and largely undocumented: EK flow instabilities that arise in heterogeneous property liquid streams. These instabilities occur in a variety of geometries relevant to on-chip assays, and flows with ionic conductivity gradients are particularly susceptible. The research plan is integrated closely with undergraduate and graduate teaching and the recruitment and retention of students of underrepresented groups in engineering at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level. NSF funding will enable several key efforts. First is a significant expansion of an ongoing effort to convert teaching material from three engineering classes into a multimedia format that leverages screen-projected and animated notes as well as digitized movie clips for effective lecturing. Funding will also be used to expand the student base of a newly-developed course on Fluid Flow in Microdevices by making the course available to other institutions (including industry and government labs) via the Stanford Instructional Television Network. Third, NSF funds will be used to recruit students of underrepresented groups by leveraging a collaboration with the Foundation for a College Education (FCE) to conduct a series of workshops to advise high school students on planning for college, completing college applications (e.g., help with college essays), and introducing them to the many rewards of careers in science and engineering. At the undergraduate level, NSF funding will be used to increase student involvement in research by expanding a collaboration with Stanford's Office of Engineering Diversity Programs. At the graduate level, the award will help the applicant expand his role in actively mentoring and motivating graduate students fromunderrepresented groups in the developing field of microfluidics research.This project was originally funded as a CAREER award, and was converted to a Presidential Early Career Award for Engineers and Scientists (PECASE) award in September 2004.