Digital microfluidics
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Digital microfluidics is an alternative paradigm for lab-on-a-chip systems based upon micromanipulation of discrete droplets. Microfluidic processing is performed on unit-sized packets of fluid which are transported, stored, mixed, reacted, or analyzed in a discrete manner using a standard set of basic instructions.
In analogy to digital microelectronics, these basic instructions can be combined and reused within hierarchical design structures so that complex procedures (e.g. chemical synthesis or biological assays) can be built up step-by-step. And in contrast to continuous-flow microfluidics, digital microfluidics works much the same way as traditional bench-top protocols, only with much smaller volumes and much higher automation. Thus a wide range of established chemistries and protocols can be seamlessly transferred to a nanoliter droplet format. Electrowetting, dielectrophoresis, and immiscible-fluid flows are the three most commonly used principles, which have been used to generate and manipulate microdroplets in a digital microfluidic device.
External links
- Digital Microfluidics at Duke University (http://www.ee.duke.edu/research/microfluidics/)
- The University of Chicago (http://ismagilovlab.uchicago.edu/research.html)
- Harvard - Weitz Group (http://www.deas.harvard.edu/projects/weitzlab/research.html#flowinmicrochannels)