Achievement

The UCLA Micro and Nano Manufacturing Laboratory, headed by Professor CJ Kim, has been pioneering digital microfluidic devices based on electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD). Digital, or droplet, microfluidic platforms have great potential as a generalize platform for lab-on-a-chip applications in diagnostics, sample preparations, and cell studies. Wyatt Nelson has recently designed an EWOD chip for automated sample preparation with integrated localized heating for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) in collaboration with Prof. Robin Garallel and Joseph Loo at UCLA. This was the first demonstration of droplet incubation using a new multifunctional electrode design, which led to a conference paper and a patent.