“Programmable Droplets”
The most common way researchers move biological fluids for analysis or combination is a microfluidic device. But according to this piece, microfluidics is functionally challenging, and consequently, MIT engineers have devised a way of moving micro droplets across a hydrophobic surface with electric fields. As important as the hardware, software determines how an experiment runs: “The operator specifies the requirements for the experiment — for example, reagent A and reagent B need to be mixed in these volumes and incubated for this amount of time, and then mixed with reagent C. The operator doesn’t specify how the droplets flow or where they mix. It is all precomputed by the software.” In effect, this is parallel synthesis on a micro scale. MORE
Image Credit: Jimmy Day, MIT and MDTMag.com