Computation can be performed in living cells by DNA-encoded circuits that process sensory information and control biological functions. Their construction is time-intensive, requiring manual part assembly and balancing of regulator expression. We describe a design environment, Cello, in which a user writes Verilog code that is automatically transformed into a DNA sequence. Algorithms build a circuit diagram, assign and connect gates, and simulate performance. Reliable circuit design requires the insulation of gates from genetic context, so that they function identically when used in different circuits. We used Cello to design 60 circuits forEscherichia coli(880,000 base pairs of DNA), for which each DNA sequence was built as predicted by the software with no additional tuning. Of these, 45 circuits performed correctly in every output state (up to 10 regulators and 55 parts), and across all circuits 92% of the output states functioned as predicted. Design automation simplifies the incorporation of genetic circuits into biotechnology projects that require decision-making, control, sensing, or spatial organization.

A technique is described for the measurement of fluid temperatures in microfluidic systems based on temperature-dependent fluorescence. The technique is easy to implement with a standard fluorescence microscope and CCD camera. In addition, the method can be used to measure fluid temperatures with micrometer spatial resolution and millisecond time resolution. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated by measuring temperature distributions resulting from Joule heating in a variety of microfluidic circuits that are electrokinetically pumped. With the equipment used for these measurements, fluid temperatures ranging from room temperature to 90 degrees C were measured with a precision ranging from 0.03 to 3.5 degrees C-dependent on the amount of signal averaging done. The spatial and temporal resolutions achieved were 1 microm and 33 ms, respectively.

When a liquid droplet is put onto a surface, two situations distinguishable by the contact angle may result. If the contact angle is zero, the droplet spreads across the surface, a situation referred to as complete wetting. On the other hand, if the contact angle is between 0 • and 180 • , the droplet does not spread, a situation called partial wetting. A wetting transition is a surface phase transition from partial wetting to complete wetting. We review the key experimental findings on this transition, together with simple theoretical models that account for the experiments.The wetting transition is generally first order (discontinuous), implying a discontinuity in the first derivative of the surface free energy. In this case, if one measures the thickness of the adsorbed film beside the droplet, at the wetting transition a discontinuous jump in film thickness occurs from a microscopically thin to a thick film. We show that this can lead to the observation of metastable surface states and an accompanying hysteresis. The observed hysteresis poses, in turn, a number of questions concerning the nucleation of wetting films that we also consider here. In addition, we consider the equilibrium wetting film thickness that results from a competition between the long-range van der Waals forces and gravity.Finally, the first-order character of the wetting transition can lead to a similar transition even when the phase that does the wetting is not (yet) stable in the bulk. For such prewetting transitions, a discontinuous thin-to-thick film transition occurs off bulk coexistence. We show that, for the large variety of systems for which prewetting transitions have been observed, the behaviour is surprisingly uniform, and can be mapped onto a simple generic phase diagram.The second part of the review deals with the exceptions to the first-order nature of the wetting transition. Two different types of continuous or critical wetting transition have been reported, for which a discontinuity in a higher derivative of the surface free energy occurs. This consequently leads to a continuous divergence of the film thickness. The first type is the so-called long-range critical wetting transition, which is due to the long-range van der Waals forces. We show under what circumstances such a transition can occur, and that it is usually preceded by a first-order wetting transition, which however is not achieved completely. This leads to the existence of an intermediate wetting state, in which droplets coexist with a relatively-but not macroscopically-thick film. The second type of transition is the shortrange critical wetting transition, for which the layer thickness diverges continuously from a

A preformed T-microchannel imprinted in polycarbonate was postmodified with a pulsed UV excimer laser (KrF, 248 nm) to create a series of slanted wells at the junction. The presence of the wells leads to a high degree of lateral transport within the channel and rapid mixing of two confluent streams undergoing electroosmotic flow. Several mixer designs were fabricated and investigated. All designs were relatively successful at low flow rates (0.06 cm/s, > or = 75% mixing), but had varying degrees of success at high flow rates (0.81 cm/s, 45-80% mixing). For example, one design operating at high flow rates was able to split an incoming fluorescent stream into two streams of varying concentrations depending on the number of slanted wells present. The final mixer design was able to overcome stream splitting at high flow rates, and it was shown that the two incoming streams were 80% mixed within 443 microm of the T-junction for a flow rate of 0.81 cm/s. Without the presence of the mixer and at the same high flow rate, a channel length of 2.3 cm would be required to achieve the same extent of mixing when relying upon molecular diffusion entirely, while 6.9 cm would be required for 99% mixing.