Ryan A. Sturmer

Optimization Techniques for the Synchronization of Concurrent Fluidic Operations in Pin-Constrained Digital Microfluidic Biochips

The implementation of bioassays in pin-constrained digital microfluidic biochips may involve pin-actuation conflicts if the concurrently-implemented fluidic operations are not carefully synchronized. We propose a two-phase optimization method to identify and synchronize the fluidic operations that can be executed in parallel. The goal is to implement these fluidic operations without pin-actuation conflict, and minimize the duration of implementing the outcome sequence after synchronization. We also extend the synchronization method with the addition of a small number of control pins, in order to further minimize the completion time while avoiding pin-actuation conflicts. The effectiveness of the proposed synchronization method is demonstrated for a representative 3-plex assay performed on a commercial pin-constrained biochip and for multiplexed in-vitro diagnostics performed on an experimental pin-constrained biochip.

Synchronization of Concurrently-Implemented Fluidic Operations in Pin-Constrained Digital Microfluidic Biochips

The implementation of bioassays in pin-constrained biochips may involve pin-actuation conflicts if the concurrently implemented fluidic operations are not carefully synchronized. We propose a two-phase optimization method to identify and synchronize the fluidic operations that can be executed in parallel. The goal is to implement these fluidic operations without pin-actuation conflict, and minimize the duration of implementing the outcome sequence after the synchronization. The effectiveness of the proposed two-phase optimization method is demonstrated for a representative 3-plex assay performed on a fabricated pin-constrained biochip.

Optimization of droplet routing for an n-plex bioassay on a digital microfluidic lab-on-chip

The multiplexed in-vitro measurement of glucose and other metabolites in human physiological fluids is of great importance for the clinical diagnosis of metabolic disorders. We present a design technique for optimizing an n-plex bioassay on an electrowetting-based digital microfluidic lab-on-chip. The n product droplets of the n-plex bioassay are detected using a photomultiplier tube located at the transport bus of the lab-on-chip. We optimize the routing of the droplets and prove that this approach minimizes the assay completion time. The effectiveness of the proposed droplet-routing schedule is shown via an on-chip experiment for a 3-plex assay. We compare the completion time of the proposed routing schedule to an unoptimized baseline schedule for the n-plex assay.