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| Bachelorprojekt - Softwareteknologi | Project No. 0210: Layer-change focused design optimization algorithm for microfluidic biochips |
| Aktuelle | Tidligere |
Microfluidic biochips (also known as lab-on-a-chip) are an alternative to conventional biochemical laboratories, and are revolutionizing biology. We are interested in continuous-flow Biochips which are made up of two layers of plastic or glass. The basic building block is a very small valve[1], which can be constructed using flexible membrane in-between the two layers. By combining these valves, more complex units (see the videos here) such as mixers, switches, multiplexers can be built up and the technology is therefore referred to as microfluidic Very Large Scale Integration (mVLSI).
These biochips are becoming increasingly complex, with thousands of components, but are designed manually, which is extremely labor intensive and error prone. Designers use drawing tools, e.g., AutoCAD, to manually design the chip.
In this project you will develop a design optimization algorithm that reduces the required amount of so-called layer-changes on a biochip. A layer-change allows routes to access the third dimension of a chip and switch to a different layer, allowing for channels to cross the same area, but not intersect. While this is very practical when it comes to routing and placement of components and channels, layer-changes also increase the risk of chip failure due to leaks occurring at layer changes. The designed algorithm should therefore optimize a given biochip design by routing the channels using as few layer-changes as possible.
You can choose if you want to write the thesis in Danish or English. We will provide the examples to test your tool. We're building a research group at DTU on this topic, and we're looking for students to be part of this.
[1] William Grover et al, Development and multiplexed control of latching pneumatic valves using microfluidic logical structures, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Lab Chip, 2006, 6, 623-631
[2] Wajid Hassan Minhass, System-Level Modeling and Synthesis Techniques for Flow-Based Microfluidic Very Large Scale Integration Biochips (pdf), DTU PhD thesis, 2012
Supervisor(s) Jan Madsen
| Sidst opdateret: Nov 18, 2020 af Hans Henrik Løvengreen |