SHF: Small:Design Tools and Optimization Methods for Digital Microfluidic Biochips

数字微流体技术的进步使生物芯片有望用于即时医疗诊断等应用。这些设备能够精确控制生化样品和试剂的纳升液滴。因此，集成电路（IC）技术可用于运输和处理纳升/皮升液滴形式的"生化有效载荷"。因此，非传统的生物医学应用和市场正在为IC开辟全新的用途。本计画的目标是开发一个可重新组态的微流体生物晶片的设计自动化基础架构。它设想了一种自动化设计流程，将改变生物芯片的研究和使用，就像设计自动化在80年代和90年代彻底改变了IC设计一样。正在开发设计工具和优化方法，以确保生物芯片与它们打算取代的宏观实验室一样通用。这项研究的结果将在集成微流体处理器生物芯片上实现一个基于免疫测定的诊断测试“面板”，该芯片可以“用户编程”，并且可以实时提供皮升样品/试剂体积的结果。具体的研究任务包括控制路径合成和微控制器/微流控集成、用于多路免疫分析的芯片优化、用于智能决策的微流控逻辑门以及可测试性设计。小型化和低成本的生物芯片将彻底改变空气质量研究和临床诊断的数据分析，从而实现环境监测、医疗保健、暴露评估和应急响应的转型。该项目特别符合2007年ITRS中所阐述的功能多样化和"超越摩尔"的愿景，该愿景强调"医疗"是未来的"系统驱动力"。该项目连接了几个研究团体，例如，微流体，电子设计自动化和生物化学，它提供跨学科的教育，研究生和本科生。

Advances in digital microfluidics have led to the promise of biochips for applications such as point-of-care medical diagnostics. These devices enable the precise control of nanoliter droplets of biochemical samples and reagents. Therefore, integrated circuit (IC) technology can be used to transport and process "biochemical payload" in the form of nanoliter/picoliter droplets. As a result, non-traditional biomedical applications and markets are opening up fundamentally new uses for ICs. The goal of this project is to develop a design-automation infrastructure for reconfigurable microfluidic biochips. It envisions an automated design flow that will transform biochip research and their use, in the same way as design automation revolutionized IC design in the 80s and 90s. Design tools and optimization methods are being developed to ensure that biochips are as versatile as the macro-labs that they are intended to replace. The results from this research will enable a "panel" of concurrent immunoassay-based diagnostic tests on an integrated microfluidic processor biochip that can be "user-programmed", and which can provide results in real-time with picoliter sample/reagent volumes. Specific research tasks include control-path synthesis and microcontroller/microfluidics integration, chip optimization for multiplexed immunoassays, microfluidic logic gates for smart decision-making, and design for testability.Miniaturized and low-cost biochips will revolutionize data analysis for air quality studies and clinical diagnostics, enabling a transformation in environmental monitoring, healthcare, exposure assessment, and emergency response. This project is especially aligned with the vision of functional diversification and "More than Moore", as articulated in the ITRS 2007, which highlights "Medical" as a "System Driver" for the future. The project bridges several research communities, e.g., microfluidics, electronic design automation, and biochemistry, and it provides interdisciplinary education to graduate and undergraduate students.