SENSORS: Portable, Integrated and Highly Sensitive Pathogen Detectors Based on Ferrohydrodynamic Pumping

智力优势：这项工作涉及一个多学科的研究计划，设计，建模，分析，构建和优化一个集成的，便携式病原体传感器芯片，该芯片是基于行波激励下的磁性流体的泵送动力学。该研究结合了胶体化学，磁学和流体力学，将基础建模和分析与简单有效的测试方法相结合。提出的想法是新颖的，并通过PI最近的理论和实验工作磁流体获得的新见解的动机。这项研究工作有望推进对磁性和流体力学领域之间耦合的物理理解，特别是在微米和纳米尺度上。该研究将把物理、数学和数值建模与微尺度传感器的制造和测试相结合。这种方法产生了可测试的理论预测，发展了对磁流体流体动力学的基本理解，并实现了针对各种化学和生物病原体的高效传感器。这里描述的传感器有望是紧凑的、便携的、集成的、廉价的、一次性的、多功能的和高度灵敏的，在健康产业、生物医学研究、和国土安全部通过在完全便携和实用的包装中提供快速可靠的检测方案，这种传感器设计可能在医院设置和现场节省时间，金钱和生命。从这项传感器工作中获得的理论和实验见解也将促进我们对磁性流体泵送的理解，并为微创和植入式药物输送设备（如糖尿病患者）提供更好的小型化泵设计。此外，芯片实验室应用-如细胞分选和操作，以及DNA和蛋白质分离和识别-将大大受益于在微观尺度上获得的磁流体泵送经验。这项研究的结果将提供宝贵的机会，为本科生和研究生的跨学科培训，以及在耶鲁大学周围的大纽黑文地区的推广活动的充足前景。PI已经与康涅狄格州预工程计划（CPEP）合作，计划在纽黑文地区开展外展活动，该地区有大量社会和经济“风险”儿童，以及传统上代表性不足的少数民族学生高度集中。

Intellectual Merits: This work involves a multi-disciplinary research program to design, model, analyze, build and optimize an integrated, portable pathogen sensor chip that is based on the pumping dynamics of magnetic fluids under traveling wave excitations. The research incorporates colloidal chemistry, magnetism and fluid mechanics, combining fundamental modeling and analysis with a simple and effective testing methodology. The ideas presented are novel and motivated by the new insights gained through the PI's recent theoretical and experimental work on magnetic fluids. The research effort promises to advance the physical understanding of the coupling between magnetic and fluid mechanics domains, especially at the micro and nano-scales. The study will integrate physical, mathematical and numerical modeling with micro-scale sensor fabrication and testing. This approach results in testable theoretical predictions, develops a fundamental understanding of the hydrodynamics of magnetic fluids, and enables the realization of highly effective sensors for a wide variety of chemical and biological pathogens.Broader Impacts: The sensor described here promises to be compact, portable, integrated, cheap, disposable, versatile and highly sensitive, with direct impact potential in the health industry, biomedical research, and homeland security. By providing a fast and reliable detection scheme in a completely portable and practical package, this sensor design is likely to save time, money and lives, both in hospital settings and in the field. The theoretical and experimental insights gained from this sensor work will also advance our understanding of magnetic fluid pumping, and enable better miniaturized pump designs for minimally invasive and implantable drug delivery devices (such as for diabetic patients). Moreover, lab-on-a-chip applications - such as cell sorting and manipulation, as well as DNA and protein separation and identification - will greatly benefit from the experience gained on magnetic fluid pumping at the micro-scale. The results of this study will provide valuable opportunities for the interdisciplinary training of both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as ample prospects for outreach activities in the greater New Haven area around Yale University. The PI is already collaborating with the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program (CPEP) for his planned outreach activities around the New Haven area, which has a significant population of socially and economically "at-risk" children, as well as a high concentration of traditionally underrepresented minority students.