Development of a reconfigurable microfluidic platform for the automation of laboratory protocols and production of biochips

对用于研究人类基因组、蛋白质组和药物测试的协议的迫切需求呈指数级增长。 尽管给出了优异的结果，但由于生物材料从溶液到反应位点的质量运输效率低，传统上用于这些研究的方案具有相对长的循环时间。可以通过增加试剂浓度来缩短循环时间，但这会导致昂贵试剂的过度使用。这些缺点在蛋白质组学中特别受限，其中试剂不能容易地合成。微全分析系统通过将一系列模块集成到单个微尺度设备上来使宏观尺度过程自动化。 在许多应用中，这些系统的开发通过减少循环时间和原材料消耗来提高效率和产量。本研究的目标是开发原型微流体装置，使实际生物应用自动化，并提供增加的吞吐量和降低的运营成本。正在追求的应用包括蛋白质鉴定，DNA复制和微阵列芯片。感兴趣的平台是电介质上的电润湿。电介质上电润湿（EWOD）装置可以通过施加电场单独地控制nL尺寸的液滴的运动。与连续流动微流体装置不同，EWOD装置不需要复杂的流动控制或外部泵送特征。这使得它们更容易制造，更小，更适合使用多种试剂的应用。

Throughput demands on protocols used to study the human genome, proteome, and pharmaceutical testing are increasing exponentially. Despite giving excellent results, the protocols traditionally used in these pursuits have relatively long cycle times due to the inefficient mass transport of biological material from solution to the reaction site. Cycle times can be reduced by increasing reagent concentrations, but this results in the overuse of expensive reagents. These disadvantages are particularly limiting in proteomics, where reagents cannot be easily synthesized. A micro total analysis system automates a macroscale process by integrating a series of modules onto a single microscale device. In many applications, the development of these systems increases efficiency and throughput by reducing cycle times and the consumption of raw materials. The goal of this research is to develop prototype microfluidic devices that automate practical biological applications and provide increased throughput and decreased operating cost. Applications being pursued include protein identification, DNA replication, and microarraying chips. The platform of interest is electrowetting on dielectric. Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) devices can individually control the motion of nL sized droplets through the application of electric fields. Unlike continuous flow microfluidic devices, EWOD devices do not require complex features for flow control or external pumping. This makes them easier to fabricate, smaller, and more suitable for applications that use multiple reagents.