Collaborative Research: Experimental and numerical studies of droplet formation and cell encapsulation in micro-channels for high-throughput electrical measurements

该研究的目的是调查和促进使用皮升规模的液滴封装和监测细菌生长，哺乳动物细胞生长和PCR反应。该方法是确定实验和数值，设备设计，封装机制，和液滴内的生物反应。该研究有望加深对基本机制的理解，并实现用于即时诊断和筛查应用的实用设备。拟议工作的智力价值包括开发用于模拟细胞包封过程的新型数值技术，获得对细胞包封在细胞培养基或缓冲液液滴中的过程的基本见解，考察了离子液体介质对细胞的影响，系统的实验和模拟方法来设计用于光学捕获的装置，以及是否可以在这些液滴内询问单细胞反应。所提出的工作的更广泛的影响是，进一步了解微滴中细胞包封过程的机制，通道将直接引导液滴在生物化学应用中用作细胞和分子的反应容器。因此，所提出的研究可以作为通用平台，其允许使用电气手段在真实的时间内监测生物活性，从而产生紧凑的装置。这些设备将用于在俄勒冈州立大学的科学博览会上向高中生展示微流体和生物测定的基础知识，并作为UIUC为期2周的暑期学校的微流体模块的一部分。

The objective of the research is to investigate and promote the use of pico-liter scale droplets for encapsulation and monitoring of bacterial growth, mammalian cell growth, and PCR reactions. The approach is to ascertain both experimentally and numerically, the device design, mechanisms of encapsulation, and biological reactions inside the droplets. The research is expected to result in increased understanding of the fundamental mechanisms as well as realization of practical devices for point-of-care diagnostics and screening applications.The intellectual merits of the proposed work include the development of novel numerical techniques for simulation of the cell encapsulation process, obtaining fundamental insight into the process of cell encapsulation in the droplets of cell media or buffer, examining the effect of ionic liquid medium on the cells, a systematic experiment and simulation approach to design the devices for optical capture, and whether single cell reactions can be interrogated inside these droplets.The broader impact of the proposed work is that a further understanding of the mechanism of cell encapsulation process in micro-channels will directly guide the use of droplets as reaction vessels for cells and molecules in biochemical applications. Thus, the proposed study can serves as generic platform that allows the biological activities to be monitored in real time using electrical means resulting in compact devices. The devices would be used to demonstrate fundamentals of microfluidics and bioassays to high school students in science fairs at OSU and as part of a microfluidic module in a 2 week long summer school at UIUC.