CAREER: Massively Parallel Light-Driven Droplet Manipulation Platform for Large Scale Multiplexed Single Cell Analysis

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this research is to develop a massively parallel droplet manipulation platform that allows massively parallel light driven manipulation of aqueous droplets in immiscible oil for multiplexed chemical and biomedical screening and analyses. The approach is to utilize a novel floating electrode optoelectronic tweezers (FEOET) mechanism that permits optical modulation of electric field in electrically insulating oil via direct optical images on low-cost photoconductive materials with low light intensity. Intellectual Merit: FEOET devices provide a unique optical actuation mechanism that could allows driving a micrometer to millimeter droplets with light intensity as low as 1 W/mm2. This extremely low optical power requirement would permit a single LED diode to process one million droplets in parallel. It also opens up the possibility to use low-cost photoconductive polymers as the photoconductive layers that could dramatically reduces the fabrication cost for large-scale lab-on-a-chip system housing millions of droplets containing multiplexed drug combinations for large scale and high throughput screening. Broader Impact: Results and expertise developed during the course of this project will be incorporated into the PI's teaching activities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The PI will also propose Summer Research Internship Programs with Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED), an excellent outreach program housed in UCLA Engineering School, to recruit under-represented students from local community colleges for constructing a "Virtual Chemical Lab" allowing remote control of real droplets in PI's lab via Internet.