UNS: Fractionation, purification, and analysis of gases in microbubbles

化学分离、分馏和分析是生命科学研究中不可或缺的分析工作流程。当使用液体样品执行此类工作流程时，可以使用移液器、试管和托盘等传统的馏分收集工具。然而，对于气体，这些基本操作更具挑战性，因为气体不容易被控制。该提案的目标是创建一个平台技术，可以使用气相色谱（GC）分离气体，然后将它们封装到气泡中，以便可以离线分析或操作。如果成功，提议的多相系统将使气体净化和分析的新工作流程类似于液体。从分离科学的角度来看，该封装技术可以封装数千个气体馏分，时间分辨率为10ms，馏分体积为1nL，比依靠低温捕集器的商用制备- gc系统大约好1000倍。这可能会对预GC和多维GC产生变革性的影响，在这些GC中，分数收集的分辨率和可伸缩性是至关重要的。该平台还将提供一种方法，通过使用在气泡格式的样品上操作的化学试剂分析来筛选气体馏分的反应性。拟议的工作将探讨一些基本问题，包括载流体中气体的密封，以及分析封装气体的方法。从更广泛的角度来看，该系统可能会对多维气体分析、环境监测、国土安全和食品分析中的常见工作流程产生重大影响。该推广计划将在密歇根科学中心（MSC）部署低成本的“凝胶”微流体套件，目的是提高底特律地区对stem相关学科的兴趣。从拟议的研究中获得的科学知识将被整合到PI的研究生水平生物医学系统和微流体课程中。

1512544BasuWayne State UniversityChemical separation, fractionation, and assay comprise an integral analytical workflow in life sciences research. When executing such workflows with liquid samples, conventional fraction collection tools such as pipettors, test tubes, and trays can be used. With gases, however, these basic operations are more challenging since gases are not easily contained. The objective of this proposal is to create a platform technology which can separate gases using gas chromatography (GC), and then and encapsulate them into bubbles so that they can be analyzed or manipulated offline. If successful, the proposed multiphase system would enable new workflows for gas purification and analysis analogous to their liquid counterparts. From the perspective of separation science, the encapsulation technique can encapsulate thousands of gas fractions at time resolution of 10ms and fraction volumes 1nL, roughly 1000X better than commercial preparatory-GC systems, which rely on cryogenic traps. This can can have transformative impact on prep-GC and multidimensional GC, where the resolution and scalability of fraction collection is critical. This platform would also provide a way to screen the reactivity of gas fractions by using chemical reagent assays which operate on samples in the bubble format. The proposed work will explore fundamental issues, including the containment of gases in a carrier fluid, and methods to analyze encapsulated gasses. From a broader perspective, this proposed system may substantially impact multidimensional gas analysis, a common workflow in environmental monitoring, homeland security, and food analysis. The outreach plan will deploy low-cost "jello" microfluidic kits at the Michigan Science center (MSC), with the goal of increasing interest in STEM-related disciplines in the Detroit area. Scientific knowledge from the proposed research will be integrated into the PI's graduate level BioMEMS and microfluidics course.