ITR: Automated Design of Very Large Scale Integrated Biofluidic Chips

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The advent of large scale integrated (LSI) circuits in the 70s set the foundations for today's information technologies. Similarly, recent advances in the monolithic integration of biochemical fluid-based processing technologies is likely to lead to the development of tomorrow's advances in biotechnology and medicine. As with integrated circuits, such very large scale integrated biofluidic chips (VLSIBC) will need software tools to acquire design specifications, investigate the applicability of alternative design architectures, and then automatically design a target chip. Furthermore, tools for quantitatively predicting and optimizing the chip's performance will be needed. This cross-disciplinary project involving investigators from four departments at Carnegie Mellon and one at the University of Illinois is developing algorithms, languages, models and methodologies for the design of biofluidic chips. The envisoned automated design and verification capabilities will be able to handle the tremendous growth in biofluidic design complexity arising from microfluidic integration and will shorten the current design-fabricate-test loop to reduce the lead time and make biofluidic processors commercially viable.