CAREER: Design Automation for Microfluidic Large Scale Integration Laboratories-on-a-Chip

新兴的芯片实验室技术使生物化学反应的自动化和小型化成为可能，用于DNA测序、药物发现、流感和其他病原体检测、生物威胁检测和水净化等应用。科学家们目前必须为每一种应用手工设计新的设备。对于复杂的应用程序，这可能需要数周或数月。该项目将设计和实现计算机软件，自动将科学家的生物应用转换为可以制造的物理设备布局。该项目的成功完成将提高科学生产力，降低新用户进入的障碍。就更广泛的影响而言，芯片实验室有望改善和降低全球医疗保健的成本，特别是通过即时检测。该项目将通过提高生产力来降低芯片实验室的设计成本，这些节省可以直接传递给消费者。在加州大学滨江，PI将推出关于芯片实验室技术的本科生和研究生课程，这些课程将由一名合格的专业发展官员进行评估。PI将包括妇女和代表性不足的少数民族学生在这个项目中，并有一个计划外展计划与合作者在克拉夫顿山学院，以促进计算机科学教育，以代表性不足的少数民族高中学生在经济上处于不利地位的内陆帝国地区的南加州。

Emerging laboratory-on-a-chip technology enables automation and miniaturization of biochemical reactions for applications such as DNA sequencing, drug discovery, detection of influenza and other pathogens, biothreat detection, and water purification. Scientists presently must design new devices for each application by hand. This may take weeks or months for complex applications. This project will design and implement computer software that automatically converts a scientist's biological application into a physical device layout that can be fabricated. Successful completion of this project will enhance scientific productivity and lower the barrier-to-entry for new users. In terms of broader impact, laboratories-on-a-chip are expected to improve and reduce the cost of global healthcare, particularly through point-of-care testing. This project will reduce the design cost for laboratories-on-a-chip through productivity enhancements, and these savings can be passed directly to the consumer. At the University of California, Riverside, the PI will introduce undergraduate and graduate courses on laboratory-on-a-chip technology, which will be assessed by a qualified professional development officer. The PI will include women and underrepresented minority students in this project, and has a planned an outreach program with a collaborator at Crafton Hills College to promote computer science education to underrepresented minority high school students in the economically-disadvantaged Inland Empire region of Southern California.