Date of Award
6-14-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2017.
Department
Bioengineering
First Advisor
Emre Araci
Abstract
Microfluidic large-scale integration (mLSI) is an emerging field that has the potential to fully automate the biological experimentation and technology development. mLSI offers high-throughput, while maintaining reduced costs and sample size in biochemical tests and experiments. The pneumatic control systems, and the use of solenoid valves that are needed for mLSI make this technology bulky and limits its use to specialized labs. Moreover, since the field is relatively new, few scientists are trained in microfluidic chip design and microfabrication. Eliminating the peripheral equipment from standard testing protocol will allow mLSI to be used in point-of-care settings and more widespread usage of this powerful technology. Our device is a portable, powerless alternative that operates without the use of costly solenoid valves and microcontrollers. In this report, we present a proof of concept demonstrating our device has potential in scalability, high throughout experimentation, and ease of use.
Recommended Citation
Schmidt, Andrew and Fitzgerald, Matthew, "Portable, Powerless Automation of Valve Actuation for Microfluidic Large Scale Integration Technology" (2017). Bioengineering Senior Theses. 67.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/bioe_senior/67