An Electronically Controlled Microfluidic Approach towards Artificial Cells

Abstract

This work focuses on the application of on-line programmable microfluidic bioprocessing as a complementation vehicle towards the design of artificial cells. The electronically controlled collection, separation and channel transfer of the biomolecules are monitored by a sensitive fluorescence setup. Two different physical effects, electrophoresis and electroosmotic flow, are used to allow for a detailed micro-control of fluids in micro-reaction environments. A combination of these two basic electronically controlled input reaction chambers makes combinatorial fluidic networks and indefinitely sustained biochemical or chemical reaction networks feasible. Experimental data showing the power of this approach is presented. Not only does this processing power pave the way towards the development of artificial cells (using a technology to complement not yet established autonomous metabolic or replication capabilities) but it also opens up new processes for applications of combinatorial chemistry and lab-on-a-chip biotechnology to drug discovery and diagnosis.

Autonomous adaptation inspired by the model of a minimal living system provided by chemoton theory

“…Some may argue that all attention should be directed towards novel technologies and Si left behind. However, some suggested solutions point also towards hybrid architectures [57] where Si-based electronics still plays a prominent role, albeit in combination with subtler computing substrates.…”

On demand nanoliter-scale microfluidic droplet generation, injection, and mixing using a passive microfluidic device

“…For subsequent export of droplets, the combinatorial production of programmable chains of droplets with different DNA proved more robust than mixed droplets and was adopted as the primary mechanism, when the device was scaled up to 8 inputs. On chip mixing has the additional advantage of supporting on-chip reactions, but this is not essential for many applications, such as the creation of DNA libraries, 9 because of parallel MWP-based assembly PCR (polymerase chain reaction) capabilities.…”

“…Although major achievements have been made in nanoliter to picoliter processing, 5,6 general purpose pipetting solutions are still predominantly integrated with liquid handling robots at the multi-microliter scale, 2 and the more integrated technologies such as "digital microfluidics," using EWOD (electrowetting on dielectric), 7,8 currently still operate at near ll droplet scales (0.3 ll). Earlier work using integrated electroosmotic pumps without droplets 9 did not provide sufficient general purpose functionality and reliability to yield a nanoliter scale equivalent for liquid handling robots. This paper investigates a further step towards general programmability of droplet processing at the nanoliter a) Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.…”

Polystochastic Models for Complexity

“…Tangen et al (2006) presented elements of an interesting development in this direction. Tangen et al (2006) presented elements of an interesting development in this direction.…”

“…The basic elements of the SKUP quadruple may be identified for the "biomolecular console" described by Tangen et al (2006). The reconfigurable electronic interface is linked to the space of conditions, K. The micro-fluidic network represents the states-S.…”