D igital-micro uidic biochips (DMFBs) are revolutionizing laboratory procedures for point-of-care clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and drug discovery. DMFBs allow bioassay protocols to be scaled down to droplet size. They’re executed by enabling precise control of discrete droplets using a patterned array of electrodes. Biochemistry’s inherent complexity means that operational er...

Microfluidic biochips integrate different biochemical analysis functionalities on-chip and offer several advantages over the conventional biochemical laboratories. In this thesis, we focus on the flow-based biochips. The basic building block of such a chip is a valve which can be fabricated at very high densities, e.g., 1 million valves per cm 2. By combining these valves, more complex units su...

Microfluidic-based biochips are replacing the conventional biochemical analyzers, and are able to integrate all the necessary functions for biochemical analysis. The digital microfluidic biochips are based on the manipulation of liquids not as a continuous flow, but as discrete droplets. Several approaches have been proposed for the synthesis of digital microfluidic biochips, which, starting fr...

In higher eukaryotes, epithelial cell layers line most body cavities and form selective barriers that regulate the exchange of solutes between compartments. In order to fulfil these functions, the cells assume a polarised architecture and maintain two distinct plasma membrane domains, the apical domain facing the lumen and the basolateral domain facing other cells and the extracellular matrix. ...

Microfluidic biochips are an alternative to conventional biochemical laboratories, and are able to integrate on-chip all the necessary functions for biochemical analysis. The " digital " biochips are manipulating liquids not as a continuous flow, but as discrete droplets on a two-dimensional array of electrodes. The main objective of this thesis is to develop top-down synthesis techniques for d...

The understanding of electrokinetic transport phenomena in microfluidic dispensers, an important component of biochips, is very important for designing and controlling biochips. A theoretical model to study the electrokinetic transport processes in microfluidic dispensers was developed in the work to study the controlling parameters for the dispensing process. The electrical field, the flow fie...

Recent emergence of microfluidic technology has imparted a profound impact on the implementation of miniaturized healthcare chips and systems. In this review article, we will elaborate on several algorithmic challenges that arise while realizing biochemical protocols on a digital microfluidic (DMF) lab-on-a-chip. In particular, we will focus on certain design automation issues of sample prepara...