MICROFLUIDIC CHIPS FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Fueled by powerful recent developments in genomics and proteomics, the utilization of molecular biology assays for medical research, drug discovery and clinical diagnostics has dramatically increased in the past decade. At the macroscopic level, these assays require a combination of unit steps such as sample transport, reagent mixing, thermal cycling, separation and detection implemented in a conventional laboratory setting. Scaling of these assays to micro- and nano-scale “lab-on-a-chip” fluidic chip systems offers many benefits. Orders of magnitude reduction in reagent consumption, substantial increases in assay speed, and implementation of inexpensive disposable devices are all potentially achievable. Furthermore, the processing of chemical signals at the microscale permits the implementation of new exciting signal processing schemes.
In this talk I will present an overview of our current microfluidic research projects. I will first discuss how technologies developed for micro-scale systems are directly applicable to engineered nanopore devices for single molecule interrogation of nucleic acids. I will also discuss how well know methods of analog circuit design can be applied to implement microfluidic circuits capable of driving and analyzing dynamical chemical signals. Specifically I will discuss several implementations of microfluidic digital-to-analog converters and spectral filters for chemical signals.

Carlos H. Mastrangelo (S’84-M’90) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1960. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985, 1988, and 1991, respectively. His graduate work concentrated on the applications of microbridges in microsensor technology. From 1991 though 1992, he was at the Scientific Research Laboratory, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn MI, developing microsensors for automotive applications. From 1993-2002, he was an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Center for Integrated Microsystems, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. From 2000-2005 he was Vice President of Engineering at Corning-Intellisense, Wilmington MA and a Director at the Biochemical Technologies research group, Corning NY. He is nor an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineeirng and Computer Science at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH. His research focuses on microelectromechanical system applications and technology, microfluidic systems, and integration, design, and modeling of MEMS fabrication processes. Dr. Mastrangelo’s group is credited for being the first group to detect DNA separations on a microfluidic chip integrated with an on-chip detector. He is also widely credited for developing the first model for stiction phenomena in MEMS.
Dr. Mastrangelo received the 1991 Counsel of Graduate Schools/University Microfilms Distinguished Dissertation Award for the best technical dissertation in the United States and Canada. He also received a 1994 NSF Young Investigator Award. In 2000 his group received the best paper of the year award at the Transactions of Semiconductor Manufacturing for work on synthesis of microfabrication process flows for MEMS structures. He is now on the editorial boards of Sensors and Actuators and the IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, and he has participated in technical and organizing committees of numerous SPIE and IEEE conferences in the MEMS area.