Development of a centrifugal force based lab-on-a-chip and its application to biological analysis and chemical synthesis

Abstract

Micro-total-analysis-system ($\mu TAS$) or lab-on-a-chip technology is an integrated system that miniaturizes all sequences of lab processes on a single wafer. A number of advantages of $\mu TAS$ including a fast analysis time, reduced reagent consumption, high-throughput and automatic capability, and portability have garnered much attention from the chemical and biological society. Up to now, a variety of microfluidic plat-forms such as pressure or capillary-driven platforms, electro-kinetic operation, and centrifugal-based devices have been developed to realize the integrated $mu TAS$. Among the microfluidic platforms, the centrifugal microfluidic device holds several strengths in term of simple operation by a rotational motor without need of external syringe pumps and microvalves for fluidic manipulation. In addition, fluidic operation units such as valving, mixing, and splitting can be executed by utilizing a sophisticated microfluidic design and centrifugal force, and high degree of symmetry on a single disc allows us to synchronize multiple chemical reactions. In this thesis, four types of novel centrifugal microfluidic devices are presented: two are for the integrated genetic analysis systems and the others are for high-throughput chemical synthesis platforms, while taking full advantages of the rapidity, consistency, integration, and high-throughput capability of centrifugal microfluidics.