CRI: IAD: A Digital Microfluidic Testbed for Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Screening

能够进行快速自动生化分析的低成本、便携式芯片实验室系统可以影响各种各样的应用，包括遗传分析（医学诊断、新生儿筛查、DNA指纹识别）、生物研究（基因组学、蛋白质组学、糖组学、药物发现）、体外生物分子生产（例如，肝素）和生物化学传感（病原体检测、空气和水监测、化学爆炸物检测）。有一个新兴的机会，在开发算法和计算工具的设计，模拟和性能评估的数字微流体系统（DMFS），一个范式改变类的实验室芯片系统，操纵离散液滴。 所提出的研究将开发专门的路由和调度算法，用于协调DMFS上的液滴。该团队将制定设计可扩展网格布局和协调跨不同硬件实现的液滴的一般原则。这些算法将使数字微流体系统的操作更加强大和用户友好，为最终用户提供巨大的灵活性和对反应进行前所未有的空间和时间控制的能力。 这项研究将使可重新配置的芯片实验室系统用于各种应用，包括生物危害检测，临床诊断和环境监测。它可能会导致更有效的方法来合成肝素，一种治疗上重要的化合物，以及即时新生儿筛查。拟议的研究将涉及研究生的研究，并将纳入研究所教授的研究生课程。推广活动包括课后乐高机器人活动和与RPI的大学预科教育倡议中心合作为中学生举办的机器人夏令营。

Low-cost, portable lab-on-a-chip systems capable of rapid automated biochemical analysis can impact a wide variety of applications including genetic analysis (medical diagnostics, newborn screening, DNA fingerprinting), biological research (genomics, proteomics, glycomics, drug discovery), in vitro biomolecule production (e.g., heparin), and biochemical sensing (pathogen detection, air and water monitoring, chemical explosives detection). There is an emerging opportunity in developing algorithms and computational tools for the design, simulation, and performance evaluation of digital microfluidics systems (DMFS), a paradigm changing class of lab-on-a-chip systems that manipulate discrete droplets. The proposed research will develop specialized routing and scheduling algorithms for the coordination of droplets on a DMFS. The team will develop general principles for designing scalable grid layouts and coordinating droplets that work across different hardware implementations. The algorithms will enable robust and user friendly operation of digital microfluidics systems, offering end users tremendous flexibility and the ability to exercise unprecedented spatial and temporal control over reactions. This research will enable reconfigurable lab-on-a-chip systems for use in a wide variety of applications including biohazard detection, clinical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. It can potentially lead to more effective ways of synthesizing heparin, a therapeutically important compound, and point-of-care newborn screening. The proposed research will involve graduate students in research, and will be integrated into graduate courses taught by the PIs. Outreach activities include after-school Lego robotics activities and summer robotics camps for middle school students in collaboration with RPI's Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education.