Electronically programmable membranes for improved biomolecule handling in micro-compartments on-chip

This work is focused on the design, fabrication and application of microfluidic compartments containing on-line programmable membranes. Both electroosmotic and electrophoretic effects are used to control the transport, pre-concentration and transfer of DNA within a microfluidic network. The experimental platform is based on a hybrid microfluidic chip containing a silicon substrate with integrated gold electrodes and a plastic fluidic layer, which consists of a network of channels and microreactor compartments. The PDMS microfluidic moulds were designed and pre-fabricated from an SU-8 master with standard lithography methods [1].