Final Report Summary - MICROCODE (Microfluidic Combinatorial On Demand Systems: a Platform for High-Throughput Screening in Chemistry and Biotechnology.)
We have used both of these sets of technologies in the major applied directions of research in the proposed programs. Within the direction of biochemistry and biology, we constructed-among others-an automated system of cultivating bacteria over extended periods of time, a system for automated screening of crystallization conditions for proteins, a system for enumerating bacterial cells, a system for screening of the function of membrane proteins in model lipid bilayers, and a system for research on dynamic chemical networks. We have also developed the microfluidic techniques towards the use in chemistry, with results including simple to use organic flow reactors and a technique for rapid screening of the conditions of organic synthesis with integrated detection and monitoring of yield via high performance liquid chromatography. We have worked out a number of solutions aimed at their use in analytical chemistry and medical diagnostics. These included both the point-of-care microfluidic solutions, as e.g. a system for separation of a tiny portion of blood and subsequent execution of an immunoassay, or the system for antibiotic susceptibility testing. We have also described a host of new algorithms for digital assays – assays that do not require calibration. In particular we described optimized methodology that reduces the number or partitions of the sample by orders of magnitude in comparison to the state of art, or that allows to execute digital PCR assays on standard real-time PCR devices. We have also developed a large number of very interesting new results in building new materials in immiscible liquids, with techniques for generation and understanding of the stability of both partially wetted multiple-droplet morphologies and of completely engulfed multiple liquid cores in liquid shells.