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

用于研究人类基因组、蛋白质组和药物测试的协议的吞吐量需求正在呈指数级增长。尽管获得了很好的结果，但由于生物材料从溶液到反应地点的低效率质量传输，传统用于这些追求的方案具有相对较长的周期时间。增加试剂浓度可以缩短周期时间，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尤其有限，因为试剂不容易合成。通过将一系列模块集成到单个微尺度设备上，微型全分析系统实现了宏观过程的自动化。在许多应用中，这些系统的开发通过减少周期时间和原材料消耗来提高效率和吞吐量。这项研究的目标是开发原型微流控设备，使实际的生物应用自动化，并提供更高的产量和更低的运营成本。正在进行的应用包括蛋白质识别、DNA复制和微阵列芯片。感兴趣的平台是在电介质上电润湿。电介质润湿(EWOD)设备可以通过施加电场来单独控制NL尺寸的液滴的运动。与连续流动微流控设备不同，EWOD设备不需要复杂的流量控制或外部泵送功能。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.