Resettable Microfluidic device- Microfluidic Ping Pong (MPP)

University of California System: University of California, Berkeley
posted on 07/14/2010

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Despite the numerous advantages inherent to dynamic bead-based microfluidic arrays, current microparticle trapping methods remain limited. There are currently two fundamental classes of microarrays: static and dynamic microarrays. Static microarrays consist of bio-molecules or chemicals immobilized on a static substrate. Alternatively, dynamic microarrays consist of bio-molecules or chemicals immobilized on mobile substrates, such as microparticle. To enable resettable microfluidic arrays, investigators at University of California at Berkeley have developed a novel reusable dynamic particle-based microarray – termed ‘Microfluidic Ping Pong’ (MPP). In contrast to current dynamic microarray techniques, this system can achieve (i) high-density/throughput microparticle trapping, (ii) microdevice resettability, and (iii) microparticle resettability. High-density trapping enables the acquisition of high numbers of data points (i.e. immobilized microparticle) from a single experiment, without sacrificing device ‘real-estate.’ Dynamic microarrays offer a superior platform due to several advantages compared to static microarrays, including faster reaction times due to larger surface areas of the microparticles, reduced background noise, and the ability to ‘mix-and-match’ particles corresponding to different screenings. Also, the constant mixing of solutions and particulate substrates in microfluidic channels results in faster reaction kinetics compared to the diffusion-based mixing of static systems.

• drug screening,
• point-of-care diagnostics
• pathogen detection
• genomics/genotyping

• single microfluidic device for multiple experiment
• lower cost, time & labor
• faster reaction time
• reduced background noise
• microdevice and microparticle resettability