Scalable Integration of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Into Microfluidic Devices

在化学系分析和表面化学项目的支持下，弗吉尼亚大学的Marcel Utz教授和他的团队正在努力将微流控设备和磁共振波谱(MRS)的优势结合起来。与更广为人知的磁共振成像(MRI)类似，MRS是一种强大的化学分析方法，可以识别化合物以及详细研究蛋白质和核酸等生物分子。它特别适合于同时检测生物系统中的许多不同的代谢物。微流控设备是芯片上的微型化学实验室，允许在复杂的流体网络中精确控制非常少量的液体。它们支持将实验室程序集成到一个简单且可扩展的平台中，通常在成本、可靠性和吞吐量方面都有巨大的改进。Utz小组寻求开发一种有效的方法，直接从微流控设备内的样品中提取MRS光谱，而不需要将液体从芯片转移到MRS光谱仪。为了实现这一点，磁感应耦合被用来将光谱仪的灵敏度聚焦到芯片上的特定流体室上。这将使新的研究工具以及基于同时检测大量代谢物的医疗诊断成为可能。该项目是高度跨学科的，集合了微制造、电气工程、化学和光谱学。它为博士后研究助理以及研究生和本科生提供了理想的学习和培训环境。它还为学校的学生和教师提供暑期研究经验，让他们熟悉一个令人兴奋的科学研究领域。

With support from the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Marcel Utz and his group at the University of Virginia are working to combine the advantages of microfluidic devices and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Similar to the more widely-known magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRS is a powerful method of chemical analysis which allows identification of chemical compounds as well as the detailed study of biological molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. It is particularly well-suited to detect many different metabolites in biological systems simultaneously. Microfluidic devices are miniaturized chemical laboratories on a chip which allow precise control of very small amounts of liquids in complicated fluidic networks. They enable integration of laboratory procedures into a simple and expandable platform, often with huge improvements in cost, reliability, and throughput. The Utz group seeks to develop an efficient method to extract MRS spectra directly from samples inside microfluidic devices, without the need to transfer liquid from the chip to the MRS spectrometer. To achieve this, magnetic inductive coupling is being used to focus the sensitivity of the spectrometer onto specific fluidic chambers on the chip. This will enable new tools for research as well as medical diagnostics based on the simultaneous detection of a large number of metabolites.The project is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together microfabrication, electrical engineering, chemistry, and spectroscopy. It provides an ideal learning and training environment for postdoctoral research associates as well as graduate and undergraduate students. It also provides summer research experiences for school students and teachers, familiarizing them with an exciting area of scientific inquiry.