µsynth: A Versatile Microfluidic Device for Automating the
Synthetic Biology Process
- by Steve Shih, JBEI
Steve Shih’s very well structured talk gave a concise and
intriguing peek into the world of microfluidics and its promising potential in
synthetic biology automation. In reference to his work he said that Synthetic
Biology could be defined as the science to “design and build genetic circuits
in living cells.” There is an inherent circular process in every synthetic
biological experiment – design and selection of a particular target->build
parts of the circuit or pathway as well as perform the actual microbial
transformation to run the selected biological circuit->test the resultant
engineered microbe using standard validation techniques->learn and repeat
the step for optimization.
Microfluidics has been around for a long time and the
technique has diversified into a wide range of types (microchannels, two-phase
flow, paper fluidics, slip chips, to name a few), all allowing the controlled
and regulated interaction of multiple fluids. In case of synthetic biology,
microfluidics may hold the key to expediting and automating the experimental
cycle described above. They will be able to integrate all chemicals and
microbes onto one tiny handheld device, reminiscent of “lab-on-a-chip”.
Shih proposed a novel microfluidic device that controls the
flow of liquids in various channels with the help of electrodes. The technique
– called Digital Microfluidics (DMF) – harnesses the inherent ionic nature of
different fluids and controls the motion of tiny droplets out of the device’s
reservoirs and into the common mixing channels to prepare micro-solutions with
extremely high efficiency and reproducibility.
The DMF is essentially a layer of alternating electrodes and
insulators topped with a hydrophobic surface that contains the reservoirs and
fluid channels. Each DMF device can be plugged to a computer and fed with a
simple program that will sequentially mix different constituents of an
experiment automatically. In his presentation, Shih also demonstrated a successful
proof of concept using a bicistronic design. Looking forward to more widespread
use of DMF devices in the future!
Their lab website: http://www.jbei.org/research/divisions/technology/microfluidic-assays/
