Software-programmable continuous-flow multi-purpose lab-on-a-chip

• Published in: Microfluidics and nanofluidics 2013-11, Vol.15 (5), p.647-659
• Main Authors: Amin, Ahmed M., Thakur, Raviraj, Madren, Seth, Chuang, Han-Sheng, Thottethodi, Mithuna, Vijaykumar, T. N., Wereley, Steven T., Jacobson, Stephen C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biotechnology; Control systems; Engineering; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Research Paper; Various methods and equipments
• ISSN: 1613-4982; 1613-4990
• DOI: 10.1007/s10404-013-1180-2

Current lab-on-a-chip (LoC) devices are assay-specific and are custom-built for each single experiment. Performing an experiment requires scientists or engineers to go through the time-consuming process of designing, fabricating, and testing a chip before conducting the actual experiment. This prolonged cycle can take months to complete, increasing effort and cost and reducing productivity. Similarly, minor modifications to an assay protocol re-incur the overheads of the design cycle. In this paper, we develop a multi - purpose , software - programmable Lab - on - a - Chip (SPLoC), where the user simply writes or downloads a program for each experiment. We describe the components necessary to realize the SPLoC, which include a high-level programming language, an abstract instruction set, a runtime and control system, and a microfluidic device. We describe two key features of our high-level language compiler, and describe a novel variable-volume variable-ratio mixer. Finally, we demonstrate our SPLoC on four diverse, real-world assays.