Design automation of microfluidic droplet sorting platforms
OA Version
Citation
D. McIntyre, D. Densmore. (2019). Design Automation of Microfluidic Droplet Sorting Platforms. In The Proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Bio-Design Automation (IWBDA-19).
Abstract
Both basic research and biological design require high throughput
screening to parse through the massive amounts of variants
generated in experiments. However, the cost and expertise
needed for use of such technology limit accessibility.
Simple and reproducible designs of a sorting platform
would reduce the barrier for implementation of affordable
bench-top screening platforms. Droplet microfluidics present
a promising approach for automating biology, reducing reaction
volumes to picoliter droplets and allowing for deterministic
manipulation of samples. Droplet microfluidics have
been used extensively for high throughput screening and
directed evolution, yet limitations in fabrication have
prevented the characterization needed for a design tool and
subsequent widespread adoption. Here, we present a finite
element analysis (FEA) model-based design framework for
dielectrophoretic droplet microfluidic sorters and its preliminary
experimental validation. This framework extends
previous work from our group creating microfluidic designs
tools, increasing their usability in the lab.