Microfluidics Pressure-Based Switching and Valving Array

The innovative technology from Ames acts as a microfluidics switch array, using combinations of pressure and flow conditions to achieve specific logic states that determine the sequences of sample movement between microfluidic wells. This advancement will enable automation of complex laboratory techniques not possible with earlier microfluidics technologies that are designed to follow predetermined flow paths and well targets. This novel method also enables autonomous operations including changing the flow paths and targeting well configurations in situ based on measured data decision parameters. This microfluidic system can be reconfigured for use in various experimental applications, requiring only an adjustment of the programmed pressure sequencing, reducing the need for custom design and development for each new application. For example, this technology could provide the ability to selectively constrain or move biological specimens in the experimental wells, allowing evolutionary studies of model organisms in response to various stressors, evaluation of different growth conditions on biological production of antibodies or other small molecule therapeutics, among other potential applications. Likewise, this platform can be used to foster time-dependent, step-wise, chemical reactions, which could be used for novel chemical processes or in situ resource utilization. Traditionally, laboratory operations in fields such as molecular biology and organic chemistry have required “humans in the loop,” a major inefficiency source and bottleneck for automation. Many lab-on-a-chip devices are designed to perform specific tasks, and do not offer programmable movement of microfluidic-well contents or application-specific reconfigurability. NASA Ames’ researchers have developed a novel method that acts as a microfluidic switch array, determining flow paths using specific logic states achieved through the application of different combinations of pressure and flow conditions to specified valves. This technology facilitates automation of complex laboratory techniques by enabling the programming of any number of sequences by which the contents of microfluidic wells are automatically transferred to specified neighboring chambers, in ways not possible with earlier NASA automated microfluidics technologies.