I-Corps: Quick Liquid Layout: Commercialization of Microfluidic Very Large Scale Integration Design Automation Tools

该项目代表着NSF奖“芯片上的微流控大规模集成实验室的设计自动化”所开发的技术商业化的第一步。片上实验室(LoC)技术通过小型化和自动化降低了执行复杂生物实验室实验的时间和成本；该技术的应用包括医疗诊断、护理点测试、生物医学研究、水质管理、环境监测等。设计自动化软件将简化LoC设计过程，提供诸如降低设计和测试成本、更快的上市时间和更低的人为错误可能性等好处。这些研究工作的成功商业化将提高科学生产率，降低LoC技术新用户的进入门槛。该项目的目标是培训技术创业方面的主要研究员、创业带头人和导师，并使他们能够为其技术与潜在客户会面。该项目的范围包括在华盛顿特区参加两次培训课程，参加每周一次的网络研讨会，并出差访问潜在客户，包括生物科学的学术实验室，以及生物技术、医药、医疗保健等领域的公司。i-Corps团队成员将利用这些经验来评估商业对他们的微流体设计自动化软件的兴趣，以及它在满足客户需求方面的准备情况。如果商业化成功，芯片实验室技术的未来用户将能够利用我们的软件自动设计他们的芯片，而不是目前手动布局整个体系结构的做法。

This project represents an initial step toward commercialization of technologies developed under NSF Award "Design Automation for Microfluidic Large Scale Integration Laboratories-on-a-Chip." Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) technology reduces the time and cost to perform complex biological laboratory experiments through miniaturization and automation; applications of this technology include medical diagnostics, point-of-care testing, biomedical research, water quality management, environmental monitoring, etc. The design automation software will simplify the process of LoC design, providing benefits such as reduced cost of design and testing, faster time-to-market, and lower likelihood of human error. Successful commercialization of these research efforts will enhance scientific productivity and lower the barrier-to-entry for new users of LoC technology.The goals of this project are to train the principal investigator, entrepreneurial lead, and mentor in technological entrepreneuriship, and to enable them to meet with potential customers for their technology. The scope of the project involves attending two training sessions in Washington, D.C., attending weekly webinars, and traveling to visit potential customers, including academic laboratories in the biological sciences, and companies in segments such as biotechnology, medicine, healthcare, etc. The I-Corps team members will leverage these experiences to assess commercial interest in their microfluidic design automation software along with its readiness in terms of meeting customer needs. If commercialization is successful, future users of laboratory-on-a-chip technology will be able to leverage our software to automatically design their chips, as opposed to current practice which is to manually lay out the entire architecture by hand.