CRI: IAD: A Digital Microfluidic Testbed for Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Screening

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

Low-cost, portable lab-on-a-chip systems capable of rapid automated biochemical analysis can impact a wide variety of applications including genetic analysis (medical diagnostics, newborn screening, DNA fingerprinting), biological research (genomics, proteomics, glycomics, drug discovery), in vitro biomolecule production (e.g., heparin), and biochemical sensing (pathogen detection, air and water monitoring, chemical explosives detection). There is an emerging opportunity in developing algorithms and computational tools for the design, simulation, and performance evaluation of digital microfluidics systems (DMFS), a paradigm changing class of lab-on-a-chip systems that manipulate discrete droplets. The proposed research will develop specialized routing and scheduling algorithms for the coordination of droplets on a DMFS. The team will develop general principles for designing scalable grid layouts and coordinating droplets that work across different hardware implementations. The algorithms will enable robust and user friendly operation of digital microfluidics systems, offering end users tremendous flexibility and the ability to exercise unprecedented spatial and temporal control over reactions. This research will enable reconfigurable lab-on-a-chip systems for use in a wide variety of applications including biohazard detection, clinical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. It can potentially lead to more effective ways of synthesizing heparin, a therapeutically important compound, and point-of-care newborn screening. The proposed research will involve graduate students in research, and will be integrated into graduate courses taught by the PIs. Outreach activities include after-school Lego robotics activities and summer robotics camps for middle school students in collaboration with RPI's Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education.