IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2017 Dec;11(6):1380-1391. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2017.2742548. Epub 2017 Sep 29.
Sample preparation in digital microfluidics refers to the generation of droplets with target concentrations for on-chip biochemical applications. In recent years, digital microfluidic biochips (DMFBs) have been adopted as a platform for sample preparation. However, there remain two major problems associated with sample preparation on a conventional DMFB. First, only a (1:1) mixing/splitting model can be used, leading to an increase in the number of fluidic operations required for sample preparation. Second, only a limited number of sensors can be integrated on a conventional DMFB; as a result, the latency for error detection during sample preparation is significant. To overcome these drawbacks, we adopt a next generation DMFB platform, referred to as micro-electrode-dot-array (MEDA), for sample preparation. We propose the first sample-preparation method that exploits the MEDA-specific advantages of fine-grained control of droplet sizes and real-time droplet sensing. Experimental demonstration using a fabricated MEDA biochip and simulation results highlight the effectiveness of the proposed sample-preparation method.
样品制备在数字微流控中是指产生具有目标浓度的微滴，用于片上生化应用。近年来，数字微流控生物芯片（DMFB）已被用作样品制备的平台。然而，在传统的 DMFB 上进行样品制备仍然存在两个主要问题。首先，只能使用（1:1）混合/分裂模型，这导致样品制备所需的流体操作数量增加。其次，传统的 DMFB 只能集成有限数量的传感器；因此，在样品制备过程中检测错误的延迟时间很长。为了克服这些缺点，我们采用了一种称为微电极点阵列（MEDA）的下一代 DMFB 平台来进行样品制备。我们提出了第一种利用 MEDA 对微滴尺寸进行精细控制和实时微滴检测的特定优势的样品制备方法。使用制造的 MEDA 生物芯片进行实验演示和模拟结果突出了所提出的样品制备方法的有效性。
