Achievement

Brittany Branch is working on fabrication and characterization of the closed rectangular loop microfluidic device with semiconductor diodes incorporated in a specific location along the channel wall. The specific aims of the project are to understand the fundamentals of semiconductor diode/aqueous solution interactions, fluid dynamics and electrodynamics in the presence of an external AC electric field and apply these to the focusing and separation of DNA. After preliminary experiments on DNA focusing were completed, the direction and clinical application of such a device were determined through a collaboration provided by the INCBN IGERT. Rapid genotyping, cell manipulation, and chromosomal separation were all suggested by Brittany's co-advisor, Dr. Lee Anna Cunningham. This was significant for the project, since it identifies an important bio application that was not known before this collaboration started.