Biomedical Engineering Department, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada.
Lab Chip. 2010 Feb 21;10(4):418-31. doi: 10.1039/b917668c. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
The ambition of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems to achieve chip-level integration of a complete analytical process capable of performing a complex set of biomedical protocols is hindered by the absence of standard fluidic components able to be assembled. As a result, most microfluidic platforms built to date are highly specialized and designed to fulfill the requirements of a single particular application within a limited set of operations. Electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidic technology has been recently introduced as a new methodology in the quest for LOC systems. Herein, unit volume droplets are manipulated along electrode arrays, allowing a microfluidic function to be reduced to a set of basic operations. The highly reprogrammable architecture of these systems can satisfy the needs of a diverse set of biochemical assays and ensure reconfigurability, flexibility and portability between different categories of applications and requirements. While important progress was made over past years in the fabrication, miniaturization and function programming of the basic EWOD fluidic operations, the success of this technology will in great part depend on the ability of researchers to couple or integrate digital microfluidics to detection approaches that can make the system competitive for LOC applications. The detection techniques should be able to circumvent the limitations of hydrophobic surfaces and exploit the advantages of the array format, high droplet transport speeds and rapid mixing schemes. This review provides an in-depth look at recent developments for the coupling and integration of detection techniques with digital microfluidic platforms for bio-chemical applications.
芯片实验室（LOC）系统的目标是实现能够执行复杂生物医学协议的完整分析过程的芯片级集成，但由于缺乏能够进行组装的标准流体组件而受到阻碍。因此，迄今为止构建的大多数微流控平台都是高度专业化的，旨在满足一组有限操作内的单个特定应用程序的要求。电润湿（EWOD）数字微流控技术最近作为 LOC 系统的一种新方法被引入。在这种方法中，单位体积的液滴沿着电极阵列进行操作，从而可以将微流控功能简化为一组基本操作。这些系统的高度可编程架构可以满足各种生化分析的需求，并确保在不同类别的应用程序和要求之间具有可重构性、灵活性和便携性。虽然过去几年在基本 EWOD 流体操作的制造、小型化和功能编程方面取得了重要进展，但该技术的成功在很大程度上取决于研究人员将数字微流控与检测方法相结合或集成的能力，以便该系统能够在 LOC 应用中具有竞争力。检测技术应该能够规避疏水性表面的限制，并利用阵列格式、高液滴传输速度和快速混合方案的优势。本综述深入探讨了用于生物化学应用的检测技术与数字微流控平台的耦合和集成的最新进展。
