CAREER: Electrohydrodynamic Coulter Counting

职业：电流体动力犁刀计数

• 批准号: 0846705
• 负责人: Chuan-Hua Chen
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-04-15 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0846705&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Electrohydrodynamic; Coulter; Counting

0846705 ChenA Coulter counter detects and characterizes particles by the modulation of electrical current through a small fluidic aperture. This study hopes to establish a new paradigm of Coulter counting using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) cone-jets, and demonstrate the potential of this technique in quantifying and deploying nanoscale objects ranging from biological macromolecules to synthetic nanoparticles. Resistive nanopore sensing is a miniaturized descendent of Coulter counting using biological or synthetic nanopores. Contemporary nanopore sensors typically have fixed diameters and suffer from either short life spans or low reproducibility. These limitations can be circumvented by exploiting the EHD cone-jet transition, a unique phenomenon that permits production of tunable nanoscale liquid jets from much larger nozzles off-the-shelf. To this end, experimental and analytical tools will be combined to identify conditions required for reproducible EHD jets at both micron and sub-micron levels. By integrating Coulter counting with EHD cone-jets, a drop-and-place technique for deploying nano-objects will be developed with unprecedented single-particle accuracy. This study will address the following fundamental questions associated with the development of the EHD Coulter counting technique: Can nanoscale EHD jets, with or without intrinsic pulsations, be reproducibly generated and detected? Can a liquid jet be used in lieu of a synthetic pore to accomplish Coulter counting? Can single-particle accuracy be achieved in EHD deployment? The interrelated experimental and analytical investigations outlined in the study will reveal scaling laws governing the dynamics and stability of nanoscale EHD jets, and establish the performance boundary of the new technique of EHD Coulter counting. The successful development of an EHD Coulter counter would enable the analysis of nanoparticles such as drug capsules and quantum dots over a tunable range of length scale without resorting to labeling, and the deployment of macromolecules with single-molecule accuracy for protein nanoarrays and in vitro compartmentalization. Based on this research, the PI will develop a new graduate-level course in Microscale Physicochemical Hydrodynamics and will train undergraduate researchers through the Pratt Fellows and NSF REU programs at Duke University. The PI will recruit a teacher for two summer internships from the Southern School of Engineering, a high school that offers a pre-engineering program with a predominant African American enrollment. This teacher will participate in building prototype EHD Coulter counters and in training university students to communicate scientific ideas at the high school level and then, assisted by the PI, transfer the knowledge in state-of-the-art microfluidics research into a high school level curricular unit that supports the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

0846705 ChenA Coulter计数器通过调制通过小流体孔的电流来检测和表征颗粒。这项研究希望建立一个新的模式库尔特计数使用电流体动力学（EHD）锥射流，并证明这种技术在量化和部署从生物大分子到合成纳米粒子的纳米级物体的潜力。电阻纳米孔传感是使用生物或合成纳米孔的库尔特计数的小型化后代。当代纳米孔传感器通常具有固定的直径，并且遭受短寿命或低再现性。这些限制可以通过利用EHD锥形射流过渡来规避，这是一种独特的现象，允许从现成的更大的喷嘴产生可调的纳米级液体射流。为此，实验和分析工具将结合起来，以确定可再生的EHD射流在微米和亚微米水平所需的条件。通过将Coulter计数与EHD锥形射流相结合，将开发出一种用于部署纳米物体的下落和放置技术，其单粒子精度前所未有。这项研究将解决以下基本问题与EHD库尔特计数技术的发展：纳米级EHD射流，有或没有内在的脉动，可重复产生和检测？ 液体射流能否代替合成孔来完成库尔特计数？EHD部署中能否实现单粒子精度？在这项研究中概述的相关实验和分析调查将揭示尺度律的动态和稳定性的纳米EHD射流，并建立EHD库尔特计数的新技术的性能边界。EHD Coulter计数器的成功开发将使纳米颗粒（如药物胶囊和量子点）在可调的长度范围内进行分析，而无需进行标记，并将具有单分子精度的大分子用于蛋白质纳米阵列和体外区室化。在这项研究的基础上，PI将开发一个新的研究生课程，在微观物理化学流体力学，并将通过普拉特研究员和NSF REU计划在杜克大学培训本科研究人员。PI将从南方工程学院招聘一名教师进行两次暑期实习，南方工程学院是一所提供工程预科课程的高中，主要招收非裔美国人。该教师将参与EHD Coulter计数器原型的构建，并培训大学生在高中水平上交流科学思想，然后在PI的协助下，将最先进的微流体研究知识转移到高中水平的课程单元中，以支持北卡罗来纳州标准课程的学习。