High-speed addressable magnetic microfluidic valving

微流体技术使用建立在紧凑型芯片上的微型流体通道，用于流体和生物医学诊断和研究应用。加拿大Bio-Rad实验室是一家全球性生物技术公司，设计和制造用于研究生物标本的设备和工具，对微流控系统的兴趣日益浓厚。微流控系统可以在一块芯片上实现多通道、多功能元件的并行工作。这种功能在单个操作设备中提供了更多的功能和易用性。控制这种并行微流控系统的一个重大挑战是独立控制流过设备通道的流体和细胞流动。以前用于可寻址通道流动的方法涉及由压缩空气、磁场或其他因素驱动的具有多层结构的阀 意思是。虽然这种方案已经证明了它们对于复杂的并行通道阵列的有效性，但所有现有的设计都需要具有复杂的多层制造的通道，以及从芯片到气动和流体控制输入的大量物理连接。 拟议的与Bio-Rad的持续合作将通过使用不需要物理连接的可寻址磁阀元件来解决这一问题。该项目是NSERC Engage成功合作的延续，该合作证明了磁阀概念的可行性。该项目的下一阶段将产生一种简单的微流控芯片，它保留了气动并行通道控制系统中所显示的高水平功能。使用为微机器人控制开发的磁寻址方法，阀门的磁寻址将在附近使用简单的磁线圈完成，但不与微流控芯片接触。这将导致一种简单的微流控芯片设计，具有潜在的 规模化生产。

Microfluidic technology uses miniature fluidic channels built on a compact chip for fluidic and biomedical diagnostic and research applications. Bio-Rad Laboratories Canada is a global biotechnology company which designs and manufactures equipment and tools for studying biological specimens, with increasing interest on microfluidic systems. Microfluidic systems can be fabricated with many channels and functional elements on one chip for parallel operation. Such capability offers increased functionality and ease of use in a single operating device. One significant challenge in the control of such parallel microfluidic systems is in the independent control of fluid and cell flow through the device channels. Previous methods for addressable channel flow involve valves with multi-layer construction actuated by compressed air, magnetic fields or other means. While such schemes have demonstrated their effectiveness for sophisticated arrays of parallel channels, all existing designs require channels with complex multi-layer fabrication and a large number of physical connections from the chip to pneumatic and fluidic control inputs. The proposed continuing collaboration with Bio-Rad will solve this problem through the use addressable magnetic valve elements which require no physical connection. The project is a continuation of a successful NSERC Engage collaboration which proved the feasibility of the magnetic valve concept. The next stage of the project will result in a simple microfluidic chip which retains the high level of functionality shown in pneumatic parallel-channel control systems. Using magnetic addressing methods developed for microrobotic control, magnetic addressing of valves will be accomplished with simple magnetic coils nearby but not in contact with the microfluidic chip. This will result in a simple microfluidic chip design with potential for scaled production.