Non-invasive micro/nano manipulation using opto-electrofluidics

控制和操纵所有尺度的物质的欲望一直是人类无止境的努力。在微观和纳米尺度上，物体的微妙性质通常需要非侵入性的操作。微流控和芯片实验室系统的进步已经在非侵入性操作领域看到了同步活动。在过去的50年里，出现了光学镊子、介质电泳和磁泳等几种操作方案。过去十年的创新已经导致了一套全新技术的发展，这些技术有望在微流控非侵入性操作中实现范式转变：光电流体。从本质上讲，光电流体是一种微流体技术，它利用光和电的协同作用来实现对物质在微纳米尺度上的非侵入性控制。这种协同作用赋予了这些技术几个新颖的特性，如更高的吞吐量以及高分辨率、动态用户定义操作和更高的自由度。由于这些特点，光电流体有望在分子和即时诊断领域取得重大进展。在分子和即时诊断的范围内，光电流体的几个方面有望发挥相关作用。这些包括但不限于增强传感器效率，样品制备，纯化，扩增和检测。然而，光电流体学是一个非常新兴的领域，在充分发挥其潜力之前，需要进行大量的研究。这一建议涉及到一个实验设施的发展，该设施将专注于光电流体技术的基础和应用研究。通过推进对这些技术的基本理解，我们将努力为生物医学界提供这些技术的好处。特别是，我们将在光电流体在生物分析中的应用方面开展急需的研究和开发工作。在这里，目标将是在当前相关的生物检测中实现更高的效率，更短的周转时间和高特异性。这项研究也将是加拿大同类设施中的第一个。

The desire to control and manipulate matter at all length scales has been mankind's endless endeavor. At the micro and nano-scale, the delicate nature of objects typically necessitates non-invasive manipulation. Progress in microfluidic and lab-on-chip systems has seen concurrent activity in the field of non-invasive manipulation. Several schemes of manipulation such as optical tweezers, dielectrophoresis and magnetophoresis have appeared in the last 50 years. Innovations in the last decade have resulted in the development of a whole new set of technologies that promise a paradigm shift in microfluidic non-invasive manipulation: opto-electrofluidics. In essence, opto-electrofluidics are microfluidic technologies that employ a synergistic combination of optical and electrical forces to enable non-invasive control of matter at the micro and nano length scales. This synergy bestows upon these technologies several novel features such as higher throughput along with high resolution, dynamic user-defined manipulation and higher degrees of freedom. Due to these features, opto-electrofluidics promises substantial improvements in the field of molecular and point-of-care diagnostics. Within the scope of molecular and point-of-care diagnostics, several aspects of opto-electrofluidics promise to play a relevant role. These include, but are not limited to enhanced sensor efficiency, sample preparation, purification, amplification and detection. However, opto-electrofluidics is a very nascent field and vigorous research is necessary in this domain before its potential can be fully realized. This proposal concerns the development of an experimental facility, which will focus on fundamental and applied research related to opto-electrofluidic technologies. By advancing the fundamental understanding of these technologies, we will endeavor to provide the benefits of these technologies to the biomedical community. In particular, we will carry out much needed research and development efforts in the application of opto-electrofluidics towards bio-assays. Here the goal will be to achieve higher efficiency, smaller turnaround times and high specificity in currently relevant bio-assays. This research will also be one of the first of its kind facility in Canada.